Harry Potter and the Unexpected Visitor
by Milarqui
Summary: ABANDONED (see last chapter) Harry James Potter comes back to the Dursleys' after his abysmal fifth year, as Albus Dumbledore had asked him to do. There, he mourns the loss of his godfather, Sirius Black, but soon an unexpected visitor changes his life forever... HG RHr NL RT
1. I'd Rather Be A Traitor

Chapter 1

I'd rather be a traitor

The young blond-haired boy sighed with happiness at the sight of the manor in which he had been living since he was born. He had had to stay in a private hospital for a few days so that the mediwizards could dismantle all the hexes he had been into. They also said it was an interesting mixture, because the combination had caused him to look like a slug (at least, from what he had been told). But now it was a time to forget the humiliation he had been through and think what he could do to take revenge on Potter.

* * *

While he was unpacking all his things, a house-elf Apparated soundlessly into his bedroom.

"Master Draco, Mistress has required your presence in the dining hall."

"Thank you, Idget. Tell her I will come down in a few moments."

When he put in order all his clothes and books and tidied up his bedroom, he went downstairs to meet his mother. He entered into the dining hall, and was surprised at the sight of Lord Voldemort, the man his father served, sitting in his father's chair.

"Ah, young Malfoy, I was waiting for you."

Draco bowed to him.

"Good morning, my Lord."

"Yes, it is a good morning today. I'd like to talk with you for a moment."

Draco nodded, wondering about the reason of this summoning.

"I'm sure that you are aware of the great failure your father committed a few weeks ago, when he was on a mission."

Draco nodded again: the reason of his attempt to ambush Potter was that he was behind the capture of his father.

"Although he should be greatly punished, I'm going to try and take him out of Azkaban. When the Dementors rebel, everybody will be able to escape and rejoin my ranks."

"Thank you, my Lord. It's very kind of you."

"While the plan is prepared, you should be thinking on what you will do when you join me."

"Pardon?"

"In a few weeks, I will hold a ceremony to welcome the new Death Eaters. You will be among them, and you will receive the Dark Mark."

"That… that will be a great honour, my Lord."

"You may go now, young Draco. I have to talk alone with your mother and your aunt."

"Thank you, my Lord."

With one last bow, Draco went towards the door and opened it. He caught a glimpse of movement: it was his mother, making a signal he understood, but did not know why.

* * *

Draco Malfoy went back to his bedroom, where he was supposed to not hear anything, but unknown to the Dark Lord, there was a way he could hear what was said: there was a communicator in his bedroom which could receive any noise made in other rooms of the house. He only had to trigger a few switches, and soon the cold and harsh voice of Lord Voldemort sounded in his ear:

"… disappointed with you, Bella. How could you not retrieve the Prophecy?"

"The Potter brat managed to keep us away from it. And he must have trained the blood traitors and the Mudblood, since they could do all those charms easily…"

"Silence! That's not an excuse for your great failure. They were only schoolboys, you should have been able to get it and maybe kill one of his little friends. Why didn't you do it?"

"I had Longbottom in my hands, but the Order people surprised us. I managed to kill Black, sending him through the Veil in the Death Chamber, but Dumbledore appeared and I ran away to the entrance."

"And Potter fought you. Why didn't you retrieve the Prophecy then?"

"Apparently, it had been broken before Black died. He said you knew about it being broken, and he was laughing at me…"

"Enough! You still have an opportunity to redeem yourself. Bring me one of Potter's friends or Potter himself, and I'll consider the possibility of forgiving you."

After a short silence, Bellatrix Lestrange said, "Thank you, My Lord. I promise I will not fail you…"

"You have one month. Now go."

After Bellatrix had left, Draco's mother, Narcissa, whispered something which Draco did not manage to hear at all, and Voldemort, laughing with his cold laugh, answered, "Yes, you may visit your son. I expect great things from him, and soon he will start with a project that will help me to get rid of that Muggle-loving fool which rules at Hogwarts. Instil him the idea that he may be my favourite if he succeeds. I have to go on a business trip; I'll be back in some weeks."

Alerted, Draco turned off the communicator and waited for his mother, who knocked on the door a minute after.

"Hi, Mother," Draco said, smiling.

"Hi, Draco," she answered, hugging him. "Were you listening in on the conversation?"

"Mother?" he asked, confused.

"Were you listening?" she asked again.

"Yes, Mother, but why…"

"Listen to me, there is not much time. I can't allow you to be one of the Dark Lord's servants, it's too dangerous. I want you to get prepared to run away from here as soon as possible."

"Mother, I want to be one of them, you heard Him, and I'm prepared to do whatever he asks me to do…"

"No! You may want to do it, but I'm sure you don't know any detail of what it is to serve Him. Has your father ever told you what happened the last time he did not do what the Dark Lord had ordered him to do?"

"No."

"He was put through the Cruciatus Curse for nearly half an hour. He had to kidnap someone without causing any harm, but he shot a Diffindo Charm, trying to break that person's wand, and he ended without one of his fingers."

Draco gasped in horror.

"You understand, son? I can't let him do the same to you. Your father may have surrendered completely to him, but I know you can be saved. And don't believe he will leave you unharmed even if you do everything he orders correctly. He uses the Cruciatus once a week in one of his servants randomly, only to show the others what their punishment will be."

"What do you want me to do? It'll be impossible for me to run away from him…"

"There is one person who will help us. You may not like it, but we have to talk with Albus Dumbledore."

"What? Are you mad? If he discovers us, we are dead…"

"He's gone. That gives us some time, and I will talk with Dumbledore. I know you don't like it, but it is the only way to save you." Draco just nodded this time.

"Right. I want your things packed in less than half an hour, while I talk with your professor about this." She enlarged the boy's trunk. "Put all your books and some clothes in there. Don't take anything which is not important. I'll be back soon."

She opened the door and ran to the first floor, leaving her son with the chore of organizing everything he would need in the magically expanded trunk. After twenty minutes, he had done what his mother had asked him to do, and he even managed to put a few more things that he surely would miss, like his "Nimbus 2001" broom, which he surely would use if he would be hiding in Hogwarts, and some comfortable clothes which he liked to put on when he was at his house. In the moment he had closed his trunk, his mother appeared again.

"Well done, Draco. Take this," she said, giving her son a tea cup. "It will take you to the Headmaster's office in five minutes."

"You are not coming with me?" he answered, alarmed.

"No, son, I have to turn off the anti-Portkey wards. Don't worry about me, Dumbledore has given me another Portkey, and when I get you out of here, I will only have to go outside the property; that will activate it."

"Mum…" He had not called her 'Mum' since he was five: it was a proof of his nervousness. "Please, Mum… be careful. I don't want you being hurt."

"As I said before, don't worry. I can take care of myself. Your grandfather taught me well to defend myself, although I'm sure he never thought I would use my abilities to run away from here," she added, with a sad smile. "Prepare yourself; I have to leave you here. We'll see each other in one hour or so, if everything goes OK."

"And if not?"

Narcissa merely shuddered. She then hugged her son tightly and kissed him on his forehead before going out of the room again. Draco waited patiently, and in the moment he felt the magic around him was falling slightly, the surroundings disappeared while the usual hook on his navel took him around the whirlwind of colours.

* * *

In the end, he prepared for the landing, but he failed desperately.

"Ah, Mr. Malfoy, I'm glad to see you. Sit down, please," Dumbledore said, pointing at the chair in front of the desk. The young boy did as asked. "Would you like something to drink?"

"Yes, Professor. Some tea would do great, thanks."

Professor Dumbledore flicked his wand and two cups appeared on the desk, filled with steaming hot tea. Draco took his trembling slightly.

"Is there anything you would like to tell me?"

Draco breathed deeply before talking about what he had heard a few hours before:

"I arrived this morning to my house and when I unpacked my things, the Dark Lord…"

"Draco," Dumbledore interrupted, looking over his half moon glasses, "you should try not to call him that. As I'm sure you have heard me say, fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself. His name is Voldemort" --Draco winced--, "and since you have fled from him, you may keep fighting him by calling him by his name."

After an awkward silence, he said: "Please, continue with your story."

"Well, after I unpacked, V-V-Voldemort," he winced again, "made my mother call me to the hall. When I arrived, he was sitting down in the preferential seat, the one my father takes. He told me that soon I would be accepted as a Death Eater, and that I would have to do something to earn the possibility of filling my father's position as his favourite." Draco sipped some more tea and started with the most difficult part of it, the one he had heard by chance. "Then he sent me back to my room. Nearly nobody knows it, but all the rooms have a magical communicator. It is possible to hear everything that is said in other parts of the house. My father has forgotten about it, since he hardly has been at home since I was one, so maybe V-V-Voldemort doesn't know about it, but my mother remembered it, so she gestured for me to activate it just before I left the hall, and when I arrived to my bedroom, I turned it on. He was talking to my aunt Bellatrix about what had happened in the Ministry last week. V-V-Voldemort was angry at her because she had failed on her mission. She then tried to excuse herself, saying that Potter had kept all of them away from some Prophecy, and V-Voldemort sent her on another mission to redeem herself: she has been told to kidnap any of the ones that were at the Ministry with Potter, or Potter himself, and that she had one month."

Dumbledore seemed alarmed at this news: Bellatrix Lestrange was widely known for her extreme loyalty to Lord Voldemort and for her sadism when she was on a mission.

"When she left, he talked with my mother about what I was going to do. He did not say it clearly, but I think that he was saying that I was destined to kill you, Professor. After that, he left and my mother came to my room. At first, I was eager to do whatever V-Voldemort asked me to do, but my mother opened my eyes telling me the custom he has of using the Cruciatus on one of his followers once a week and that he punishes them severely for the tiniest failure. I agreed to come here, because she said that you would be able to protect us…"

"Indeed, Draco, indeed," the older man said, with a smile. "Tell me, is there any other thing, apart from your mother's advice, that has made you change your mind?"

Draco looked directly at his Headmaster's eyes and he felt that he was, somehow, watching through him; obviously, he knew that he had been thinking about other things.

"Yes, well… when I was on the train home, I was still angry at Potter, because my father was in Azkaban due to him. I tried to ambush him, but some blokes of the DA" Dumbledore's eyes twinkled, "managed to protect him from me. At first I thought they were stupid, helping him that way, but when my mother told me what would happen if I chose to be a Death Eater, I started to think that maybe they were helping him because they liked doing it, because they were his friends, and Potter behaved very nicely towards them. I would have liked the idea of having friends like them, eager to help you at any moment, and I thought that maybe I was the one doing the wrong thing, that I should side with Potter, although he is a half-blood."

"I'm not sure if you are aware of this, Draco, but did you know that Voldemort is a half-blood, too?"

Draco was shocked at the news: he had always thought that Voldemort was a pure-blood, like him and his father, since he was always talking about getting rid of all the Muggles and Muggle-borns.

"I see that you didn't know. Now, I'm going to send your luggage to one of the guest rooms." Dumbledore flicked his wand once more and the trunk disappeared. "If you give me a few minutes, I must tell some friends of the danger Harry and his friends are in. Feel free to talk to the portraits or to investigate these instruments, but please be careful with them, since they have just been repaired. Your mother should be arriving here in forty minutes or so."

Draco nodded and the old professor went out of the room. At first, he did not do anything apart from sipping more of his tea, but after a few minutes curiosity made him get up and start to investigate all the portraits. From what he had heard once, these were the portraits of other headmasters and headmistresses which had been here at other times. The people in the portraits seemed to be sleeping, but he was sure that two or three of them were just feigning it, because he noticed they were looking at him.

Only one of the portraits was empty. He didn't know why, but he thought it would be interesting trying to know who he or she was. He approached the empty portrait, but it did not have any names or clues that could tell him who was the person in that portrait.

"He left that frame long ago."

Draco nearly jumped when he heard the voice. He turned around and he saw an old woman, wearing something that, for the sight, could be around 200 years old.

"Hello, Mr Malfoy. Surely you didn't think we would like to talk with you? Having Albus as an interlocutor is interesting, but having new people to talk to is a good change."

"Hello, Professor," Draco answered politely. "I don't want to sound rude, but could you tell me your name?"

"Why not, young man." She seemed delighted. "My name is Dilys Dervant. Hogwarts' headmistress between 1741 and 1768. That portrait is of Phineas Nigellus, I'm sure you may have heard of him."

"Nigellus? Yes, my father told me about him, he said he had tried to get rid of all the Muggle-born and half-blood wizards…"

"Exactly. That decision he tried to take was the reason he was so unpopular; doing that would have emptied the school, because in the whole school there were hardly twenty or thirty really pure-blood wizards among the seven hundred or so that studied here during his time. Phineas was related to you, he was your multi-great-grandfather or something like that."

Draco nodded again. He didn't feel like talking with these strangers, although Professor Dumbledore had told him to talk with the portraits. He instead felt attracted to one of the instruments which rested on one of the tables in the room. It seemed fragile, and it was giving off some purple smoke. Draco took it carefully, put it on the desk, and started to see how the smoke took strange forms, like a two-headed snake.

* * *

A few minutes after, someone on a Portkey arrived in the office. Draco ran to greet his mother, but he saw, horrified, the deep cuts she had on her legs and her face had lots of bruises. When she fainted and fell to the floor, he realised that if he didn't call the nurse, his mother would die. He went straight to the fireplace; he had not used the Floo to communicate with anyone, but he had seen his father or Professor Snape using it thousands of times to talk with friends or other Death Eaters. Draco took some of the

Floo powder, threw it to the fire and shouted: "Madam Pomfrey! I need you in the Headmaster's office! Now!"

A few moments later, the school nurse arrived through the fireplace, shaking off the dust and ashes.

"What's the problem, Mr. Malfoy?"

"It's my mother!" he answered, taking her to the still pale form of his mother. "She's been hit by loads of hexes!"

Madam Pomfrey went straight to Narcissa, and started to check her with her experienced sight and her wand.

"Mr. Malfoy, please call Professors McGonagall and Snape. I'm going to need their help to sort this out fast. She has lost loads of blood."

Draco did as he was told and, when the professors arrived, Madame Pomfrey told them that she had to take Narcissa to the hospital wing.

"Professor Snape, please take the best Blood-Replenishing potions from your laboratory. Professor McGonagall, open this door: in the state Narcissa is, she can't go by the Floo."

"I'll be back soon," Snape promised. In two steps, he reached the fireplace and went to his office. While McGonagall opened the door and conjured a stretcher, Madam Pomfrey healed magically all the cuts Mrs. Malfoy had on her legs.

"Mr. Malfoy, would you rather stay in here or be with your mother?" McGonagall said, obviously concerned.

"I'd like to be with her when she wakes up, Ma'am" he answered.

"Good. Come with me, then."

* * *

Hours had passed, and Mrs. Malfoy was still unconscious. Draco was still with her. He hadn't moved since he had sat down on the chair he had pulled aside his mother's bed. He had barely paid attention to what was happening around him, because his concern was eating at him. Snape appeared next to him. He had a bottle filled with purple potion.

"Draco, please, drink this."

"I don't want to."

"Draco, it will not do any good for your mother that you don't get any rest. I now you are worried, but you need to rest. Drink."

Draco obeyed; he was knackered, and he knew that Snape only wanted the best for him.

Soon, he was knocked out by the Draught of Peace he had been given. The hook-nosed professor took him to the bed next to Narcissa and covered him with the blankets. His concern was deep; after all, Draco was his favourite student and his godson.

* * *

Professor Dumbledore arrived at the hospital wing some time after. His face wasn't the one he usually had, filled with joy; it had been replaced with a sad one. When he looked around, he saw that Snape was watching over the two Malfoys, and went straight to him.

"What happened here, Severus?"

"Narcissa arrived very badly injured. She had long cuts on her legs and she was bleeding a lot. Draco called Poppy and then Minerva and me. We brought them here and I gave Draco a calming potion half an hour ago."

"Where is Minerva? I need to talk with her."

"Here I am, Albus," the old Professor said. "Is there any news?"

Dumbledore told McGonagall and Snape everything he had been told by Narcissa and Draco.

"I went to alert the Order about the new state of problems. I've been able to have contact with Molly and she has agreed to move to Headquarters. I have told Augusta Longbottom where the Headquarters are and now she is taking her grandson there. On Miss Lovegood's side, she is in Sweden with her father, so on that part there are no problems."

"And Miss Granger?"

"That's the problem," Dumbledore answered, sadly. "I haven't been able to get into contact with her, nor with her parents. I have searched their house, and her parents' dentist office. Nobody is there."

"I fear they are having a walk by Muggle London or something. Drs. Granger have not seen their daughter since last year, when she went to Headquarters to help with the cleaning, and they want to recover the lost time I'm sure."

"We have to find them before Lestrange does. Tonks and Lupin are looking for her now, and I'll be joining them in a few moments."

"What about Potter?" Snape snarled. "He is able to get caught, only because he knows we would look for him…"

"That's enough, Severus. I don't understand why you hate him, apart from the fact that his father and his friends did some pranks on you. Harry is not James," McGonagall replied, sternly.

"Severus, stay here. I'm sure Mr. Malfoy and his mother will confide in you. Minerva, I need you to go to Headquarters and tell them everything. I'm leaving now."

And with those orders, Dumbledore called Fawkes, his phoenix, and disappeared in a flash.

* * *

Not far from Hyde Park, a brown-bushy-haired girl was having a nice time with her parents. They had decided to have a picnic there, to enjoy the sunny day and the heat that filled the atmosphere. Now, they were coming back to their house, walking. She was chatting excitedly about everything she had learned at her school the last year, trying to keep her voice down so that the other people didn't hear.

When they passed in front of an ice-cream parlour, her father asked, "Hermione, would you like some ice-cream?"

"Yes, Dad," she answered with a smile. "A chocolate one would be great."

"All right. Barbara?"

"A vanilla ice-cream, please."

"OK. Wait here, I'll bring it out in a few minutes."

The two women stayed, enjoying the fresh breeze that blew around them, when Hermione noticed the shoelaces of her left shoe were untied. She kneeled to tie them again, when she heard someone shouting and her mother fell to the floor.

When she looked to her right, she saw a mad-looking woman that, one week ago, had killed Harry's godfather and tried to do the same with him a few moments later.

Bellatrix Lestrange.

Fast, Hermione took her wand out of her jeans' pocket and used a Shield Charm so that the Stunning Spell Bellatrix had shot did not hit her. She then got far from her parents, to put them out of harms way and keep them safe, but the Death Eater seemed to be concentrated on the girl. Hermione was a bit faster than Bellatrix, but the latter could cast more spells than her, and was more experienced, something both of them knew.

Soon, Hermione felt that she needed some of the Order to arrive soon, because she was starting to get tired from the constant interchange of spells and hexes and the dodging and protecting.

When she thought she was going to lose the battle, she saw Remus Lupin running towards the battling couple. This distracted her to the point that the Death Eater caught her with a Disarming Spell that sent her towards a tree. She hit her head, and the moment before she lost consciousness, she felt she was being taken away with a Portkey.

* * *

I'm sorry for leaving you at this cliffhanger, but it was necessary for the second chapter of 'Harry Potter and the Unexpected Visitor': 'Quaero Amoris Anima'! 


	2. Quaero Amoris Anima

Chapter 2  
Quaero Amoris Anima

Grimmauld Place was full of people right now. The whole Weasley family (with the stellar absence of Percy) had been taken to the big and creepy house, and now Neville and his grandmother had arrived. They were being placed in two of the bedrooms that were not being used now, and now there still were three people to arrive.

In the kitchen, a red-haired sixteen-year-old boy was pacing nervously. He was decidedly concerned about where his friends Harry and Hermione where, and he didn't know what to do to be sure that they were OK and coming to Sirius' house.

"Ron, will you stop pacing, please?" his sister said, irritated. "I know you are nervous, but you don't have to get me nervous too."

Ron scowled at her, but he sat down on one of the chairs which were placed on the house.

"Sorry, sis, it's only that they are getting late. Dumbledore said Harry and Hermione would be here soon, but I think his "soon" it's not really "soon", or they would be here now."

"Please, Ron, try to calm down," his mother said. "If Dumbledore says they are coming, they are coming."

"I won't be able to calm down while my best friends are not here."

"Have some tea, then. At least it will give you something to do."

Ron took the cup his mother was handing him, but he didn't drink it. He was keeping an ear on the hall, eager to welcome his two friends to the house and make sure both of them were OK.

Then he heard the main door opening, and someone tripping on the umbrella stand. That one only could be Tonks. Smiling and ignoring the screams of "FILTHY HALF-BLOODS!" coming from Mrs. Black portrait, he went out of the kitchen, but when he arrive at the hall, his smile froze: Dumbledore, Lupin and Tonks were with Hermione's parents, but nor Harry nor Hermione where with them.

"WHERE ARE HARRY AND HERMIONE?" he shouted, only to be heard over Mrs. Black.

"Harry is safe, Ron, the wards have been reinforced and Bellatrix can't get within two kilometres of Harry's relatives house," Tonks answered.

Ron sighed, but he realised that both Lupin and Tonks were avoiding his gaze while they drew the curtains which covered Sirius' mum's portrait. When they managed to shut her up, he asked:

"And Hermione?"

This time, Dumbledore was the one to reply with a sad voice:

"Mr. Weasley, I am afraid that Bellatrix Lestrange has succeeded on her mission: Miss Granger has been kidnapped."

Ron was shocked at the news, and suddenly he exploded in anger.

"WHERE THE HELL IS HERMIONE? WHERE THAT BLOODY BITCH OF LESTRANGE DID TOOK HER? AND WHY AREN'T YOU LOOKING FOR HER?"

"We are doing our best, Ron…" Lupin said, but his comment was unheard because Ron's shouts had woken Mrs. Black again.

"BEGONE FROM MY PLACE, HALF-BREEDS, BLOOD-TRAITORS…"

"SHUT UP, YOU OLD HAG!" Ron shouted even louder than her. "I MAY HAVE JUST LOST ONE OF MY BEST FRIENDS ON THE HANDS OF ONE OF YOUR FUCKING NIECES! IF YOU DARE TO SAY ONE MORE WORD I WILL RIP YOUR THROAT WITH A KNIFE AND I WON'T LEAVE YOUR PORTRAIT UNTIL I'VE CUT YOUR UGLY FACE!"

For the first time in months, the portrait stopped shouting on its own, because Ron had scared her and seemed to be prepared to do what he had said if he was provoked a bit more.

Before Ron could redirect his anger towards the Headmaster, he Stupefied him. Ron fell to the floor knocked-out by the spell.

"Remus, take him into the kitchen. We will bring him round after we give him some calming potion."

When Albus entered in the kitchen, Molly looked horrified, and he could not reproach her: between the bad news about Hermione, whom she considered as one of her daughters, and the fact that her youngest son was now out, it seemed a miracle that she was still standing up.

"I'm sorry, Molly, but I had to Stun Ronald to keep him calmed."

Ginny, who was now crying silently, motioned her mother to sit on a chair. Hermione's parents, who where sobbing at the absence of her only daughter, sat down, too, and had a cup of tea from the trembling hands of the young girl.

When they sipped a bit of the tea, they started to recover the breath, but they still were crying. Mr. Granger was the first of the two of them who talked first.

"Pr-Professor," he started among sobs, "do you have any idea of why Hermione has been taken by that witch?"

"Did she talk you about what happened one week before the term ended?"

When the Grangers shook their heads, Professor Dumbledore related them about what happened in the Ministry, from what he had been told by Harry that night. Ginny told them her part from the moment Ron, Luna and her got separated from Harry, Hermione and Neville. By the end of the long story, Hermione's parents were horrified by the length of the things their daughter had not talked about.

"The six of them," Dumbledore said when Ginny finished, "managed to run away from twelve Death Eaters. If it hadn't been for Harry, who had been training them for a long time, they would have been in a very bad state. They could fight twelve well-grown wizard and helped in the capture of eleven of them, minus Bellatrix Lestrange - that's the witch who kidnapped your daughter. I had been told by a spy that Voldemort," nearly everybody winced, "had given her the mission of kidnapping anyone who was with Harry at the Ministry, but unfortunately, we didn't arrive on time."

"Can we do anything to save her?" Hermione's mother asked, desperately.

"Until a few minutes ago, I didn't have an idea, but now I think I got something. Tell me, Miss Weasley, could you tell me what is the relationship between your brother and Miss Granger?"

In spite of herself, Ginny smiled.

"Well, they are friends, of course. But I have my suspicions that his feelings towards her are far away from friendship. He has been jealous of every guy that has approached to her, especially Viktor Krum; he cares a lot about her although he is angry with her, and he talks non-stop about her when she is not around. I'm on the opinion that he really loves her, but he is so thick that he hasn't realised yet."

"That would do," Dumbledore declared, smiling. "Have you ever heard of the Quaero Amoris Anima Charm?"

"No" Ginny replied.

"I have," Mrs. Weasley said. Everybody looked at her. "It is supposed to be a special Apparition charm, only that you Apparate next to the person you love instead of a place."

"Mum?"

"It was on one of those love novels I used to read when I was young. It was very romantic, but I thought it was an invention."

"It's real, dear Molly," Dumbledore said. "It's a very old and ancient magic, like the one that protects Harry while he is at his aunt's house, and its knowledge has been kept in one book that, fortunately, remains at Hogwarts' library. And, from what I read on it, you can break any anti-Apparition wards that have been disposed between the caster and the objective."

"Really?"

"Yes. If your daughter is right, her brother may be the one who can rescue Miss Granger."

* * *

After that declaration, Dumbledore sent Minerva to Hogwarts to look for the book in which the Quaero Amoris Anima Charm was kept, while he prepared everything so that Ron could be woken up and be ready to go on the rescue-mission. He shooed everybody from the kitchen except Mrs. Weasley and Hermione's parents, who seemed so shocked at the knowledge that their daughter could be back soon. When he put everything on its place, he said:

"Molly, give your son three drops of the calming potion. It will keep him woken, but enough calmed to hear to the instructions and use the charm."

Mrs. Weasley did as she was told. Then Dumbledore said:

"Enervate!"

Ron started to wake up, muttering "Er-my-nee" under his breath. If the situation wasn't so critical, the old man would have started to laugh.

"Mr. Weasley, please wake up. I need your help to rescue Miss Granger."

Ron opened his eyes and his breathing rhythm increased.

"Mr. Weasley, calm down. You have to ask me some questions."

"OK, Professor. What do you want to know?" he asked.

"Which are your feelings towards Miss Granger?"

"She is my best friend. Why?" Ron answered, confused.

"No, Ronald." That surprised Ron, because he had never heard the Headmaster calling him by his name. "I need to know which your real feelings towards Hermione are."

He breathed deeply, and started to say, slowly, as if he was trying to pull a very well saved secret out of his chest:

"Well, she has been my best friend - apart from Harry, that is - since we saved her from that mountain troll in Halloween, our first year at Hogwarts. She has always helped Harry and me with our homework if we needed help. She is loyal, brave and very intelligent. We may have bickered lots of times at school, mainly around the subject of homework, but that doesn't keep me from being her friend. But since our second year, when she was petrified, I… kind of developed feelings towards her. Those feelings have been growing, but I never told her about them because I didn't want to lose her friendship. On our fourth year, on the Yule Ball, I didn't ask her to go, only because I was frightened of which her answer would be. But now…" At this moment, Ron's eyes started to spark, not with joy, but with the tears that were falling from them, and went down by his reddened cheeks. "… now I only want to look for her, I only want to tell her that I love her. I don't care of what she answers, 'because I will be always regretting not doing it. I love her, sir, and I'd do anything so that I could save her."

"Well done, Ronald," Dumbledore said, taking an empty vial and putting some of Ron's tears into it. "Molly, give this to Severus. He is on the first floor, preparing the potion."

Mrs. Weasley, still shocked at the declaration of his son, from who she would have never thought that sort of strong feelings, took the vial and went out of the kitchen.

"Potion?"

"Yes, Mr. Weasley. Professor Snape is preparing a potion which will allow us to rescue Miss Granger, or more accurately, it will allow you to rescue Miss Granger."

"How?" he asked.

"Have you ever heard of the Quaero Amoris Anima Charm?" When Ron shook his head, Dumbledore explained: "It is a very old kind of magic which was intended to be used as a way of being near your beloved ones if they were in any danger. But it was very difficult to use it, and when Apparition was invented, it was put aside and nearly forgotten. But I rediscovered it, and now everything here is prepared to perform, for the first time in nearly a thousand years, a Quaero Amoris Anima ceremony."

"B-but surely Hermione is under lots of spells, and wards…"

"Maybe, but this spell is very powerful. It is so powerful that you will be able to be through any ward which is put around Miss Granger, and bring her back."

Ron breathed deeply again, and said:

"What do I have to do?"

"Read this, and try to memorize it," Dumbledore said, handing him a piece of parchment. "You will have to drink a potion, but that will be in two hours or so. And don't worry for Miss Granger's health. From what I've heard, Voldemort is busy and he has ordered that she is not to be harmed."

"Could you do me one favour, Professor?"

"Yes."

"If you have Hermione's wand here, could you give it to me?"

Professor Dumbledore seemed surprised.

"Why?"

"I don't know how to say it, but with Hermione's wand next to me it will be like she is with me. That will help me to get concentrated. And I'd like to give it to her so that she doesn't get scared or something like that."

Professor Dumbledore smiled, and summoned the wand from the room in which Ginny and Hermione usually slept. Ron put it in his pocket and started to read the parchment, conscious that this would save Hermione's life, and maybe his.

* * *

Hermione woke up slowly: her head was hurting like mad, but when she touched the hurting part, she was relieved to feel that it was not bleeding. She opened her eyes, and everything around her was dark and confusing, but when her gaze started to focus, she realized she was in some kind of jail. When she tried to stand up, she felt dizzy and nearly fell again.

"So, you woke up at last?" a sneering woman voice said.

Hermione turned to the door, and she saw Bellatrix Lestrange.

"Could you give me some water, please?"

"Although my choice would be not to do it, the Dark Lord has asked me to treat you correctly, so…"

She flicked her wand, and a glass filled with crystalline water appeared in front of her. Hermione took it and drank everything in one gulp.

"Thanks."

The Death Eater merely vanished the glass.

"Why am I here?"

Bellatrix started to laugh. "I was told you were more intelligent than that. Haven't you realised the reason yet?"

Hermione's mind was now starting to run faster, thanks to the water that had calmed her thirst, and said, a bit scared, "To bring Harry into a trap?"

"Well done, Miss Little-Prissy. You are the bait, and when Potter comes here, the Dark Lord will catch him and kill him."

"He's more intelligent than that, you know. He won't fail for the same trap again."

"I'm sure that he will do it again, especially when his girlfriend…"

"I'm not Harry's girlfriend," she said automatically.

"Say that to the hundreds of news that say you two are together."

"You shouldn't believe everything that is said on the newspapers. After all, they kept the whole last year the story that Harry was a liar and that Voldemort…"

"DON'T SAY HIS NAME!" Lestrange roared.

"This is a free country, no?" Hermione answered. "I, unlike you, am not a coward who follows a stupid half-blood who believes that killing everybody that doesn't worship him is the right thing. And you, unlike me, are a fucking mad bastard who is only able to attack people from their backs."

"YOU FILTHY…" the Death Eater said, raising her wand.

"Didn't Voldemort tell you that I was not to be harmed? Let's make a deal. You leave me in peace, and I won't tell your boss that I hit my head with a tree."

This was risky, Hermione knew it, but it was the only way she could get rid of the woman for enough time to get everything on her mind right.

She seemed to consider it carefully, and said, "All right, I'll leave you here in peace, but I promise that when the Dark Lord allows me to, I'll make your death more slowly than I intended."

Hermione gulped, but didn't answer.

When Lestrange's steps stopped being heard, she started to inspect every square inch of the jail she was being kept in. It had a bed, some facilities - which Hermione promised not to use unless it was completely necessary - and a little window from which she could see the soon-to-be nightly sky.

She sighed, resigned to her luck, and lied on the bed. For the next hour and a half, she tried to remember everything she had read about wandless magic, since she didn't have her wand (she had lost it because of the Disarming Spell that had hit her) and it was the only way she could get out of this place (wherever it was) without implying her friends.

At the thought of her friends, she started to cry silently: she desperately wanted to get out of here before Lestrange or Voldemort tried to kill her, but she preferred dying than letting her friends die for her. She was worried by Harry, because she knew the "saving-people thing" he had would impulse him to go after her, especially if Voldemort sent him a vision of her being kept on this jail and tortured; but the person she wanted to see the most was Ron, the red-haired boy she had been attracted to since she saw him in the Hogwarts Express. She smiled sadly when she remembered the hundreds and thousands of times they had talked, bickered, helped Harry or themselves, had fun… and a large etcetera. She wanted to see him, at least one more time before dying, so that she could tell him she loved him; she should have told him before, but her stupid pride always made her swallow all her feelings every time she could have done it, and now she regretted it deeply. Although she was sure he felt something for her, she could never see that "something", because he only looked at her as a friend or as a walking library, depending on the moment. She kept crying, thinking on Ron, until she got asleep.

* * *

Ron was sitting now in the middle of a red circle, with a big heart painted around the circle, pointing at the direction Ron was sitting.

"Have you memorized everything, Ronald?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes, Professor."

"Drink this, then. It is of the biggest importance that you drink everything, although it has a bad taste."

Ron took the goblet, which was filled with a dark pink potion, and swallowed it. Ron had never drunk a better potion: it tasted of chocolate, butterbeer and mint. It also smelled of things like books, parchment and a strange smell. He smiled at these; everything was related to Hermione, in one form or other, especially the last one, which was the exact smell of the perfume he had bought her last Christmas.

"Very well. Now, I want you to concentrate on her, on all the good things you have shared with her, and on everything you like of her."

Ron nodded, and started to think on Hermione: he remembered the night they beat the troll, when they won the House Cup on their first year, when she recovered from the attack of the basilisk, when they made peace after their fight around Scabbers and Crookshanks, the Quidditch World Cup, the kiss she gave him before his first Quidditch match at school… and above all, her intelligence, her will power, her beauty, her...

"When you start to feel her, say aloud what you read."

Ron did not move, because he knew that this only would work if he was completely concentrated on her, and the most stupid movement would break everything.

Then he caught a strange feeling; it was like some part of his mind was sleeping, but he knew it was Hermione's, because her mind was as organized in her sleep as if she was completely woken up. He started to chant:

"I call the spirits of love…"

* * *

Hermione was having a nightmare, and she struggled on her dream: she was forced to see, again and again, how her friends and her family were tortured and murdered, and she could do nothing to prevent it.

When she was going to see, for the third time in a row, how a Cruciatus Curse was used over Ginny, everything changed: she was free, walking under the sun and over a big grass country. Everything shone under the light, and she could breathe calmly in here.

"Hermione!" someone shouted.

Although it seemed to come from miles away, she knew instantly that it was Ron. She turned around and, indeed, it was him.

"Ron!"

She started to run towards him, the same as he was trying to run towards her, but the distance between them seemed to reduce at a very slow rate…

* * *

"… shall you let me reach her…"

* * *

Now he was very near from her, probably some kind of ten metres…

* * *

"… even in the darkest times…"

* * *

Now he was next to her. She tried to hug him, but it was like there was a crystal wall among them…

* * *

"…Quaero Amoris Anima!"

* * *

… and the wall broke.

* * *

Hermione opened her eyes, and she nearly fainted from the impression: it had not been a dream, Ron was hugging her! Soon she realized that she still was in the jail. 

"Ron! Did they catch you?"

"No, 'Mione. I'm going to take you out of here."

With delicacy, he took her out of her bed and gave her wand to her.

"I knew you would miss it," he said, half-smiling.

Hermione was crying again, but this time was because of the happiness that she was feeling now. Without other word, she threw herself on his arms and kissed him.

Ron had not expected this, but he replied deepening the kiss, pulling his arms around her waist and concentrating on her. Then, the air around them started to fill with flickers of electricity, and, with a great flash of light, they disappeared

* * *

I expect you liked it!!! I've been working like mad since four or five days ago so that I could have two or three chapters ready and I could work a few chapters after the last one that I could submit. Wait for the next chapter, "The Unexpected Visitor"!!! 


	3. The Unexpected Visitor

Chapter 3

The Unexpected Visitor

Harry was sitting down in the park next to his aunt's house. He was there, brooding about the loss of his godfather, Sirius, as he had been doing for the last several days. He was very sad, and under his eyes there could be seen two deep shadows. He could hardly sleep, because the nightmares about what had happened in the Department of Mysteries two weeks ago chased him the whole night. He saw his godfather falling through the Veil again and again. He also saw him blaming him for his death, but when it was not Sirius, it was Cedric or his parents.

* * *

A few days before, he had received a visit from Albus Dumbledore, who had come to Privet Drive to make sure that he was OK and to prevent him from going very far away from the house. He was told about the mission Bellatrix Lestrange was trying to fulfil, but the wards would keep her out of a range of two kilometres from him.

The next day, Ginny wrote him to tell him all the news about what had happened to Hermione. He was rather alarmed at this, thinking that once more he had put his friends in danger, but was relieved to read that Ron had managed to save her. He even chuckled at the part where Ginny mentioned the incredibly passionate kiss they were sharing when they Apparated back from wherever Hermione had been kept. He couldn't wait to the moment he would be able to tease them mercilessly for their thickness.

* * *

He went back to reality, and he saw some people going next to the park, glaring at him with a mixture of anger and fear. From what Dumbledore had told him, the wards had been expanded, and now they covered more than four square kilometres around the house. Harry could see the irony; his neighbours were scared of him, but he was the reason they were protected.

The train of his thoughts was interrupted when he saw a dog getting into the park. It was a black dog, with a bit of filth on its fur. Harry thought he had seen this dog before, but he couldn't place him in his memory.

The dog went straight to him, barking happily and trying to lick him when he arrived next to him. It was starting to get dark, and the darkness gave the dog the creepy tone that helped Harry to remember who the dog reminded him of; it looked exactly like Padfoot, the Animagus form of Sirius.

"You know," Harry said to the dog, "I know someone who looks like you, but you don't know him." He caressed the dog, which was now listening to him. "He liked to be called Padfoot…"

The dog barked very loudly, interrupting Harry when he mentioned that name.

"Padfoot?" The dog barked again. Harry smiled a bit. "If you have met Remus Lupin, bark once."

The dog barked once. Harry smiled weakly, but he had to make sure.

"What about… Peter Pettigrew?"

The dog growled deeply, with anger. Harry was amused to see this; unless he was mistaken, in front of him stood one person he had thought he would never see again.

"Are you really Sirius Black?"

The black dog barked with joy, running around Harry.

"Can you change back into Sirius?"

The dog shook his head while barking twice.

"Then I think I know what to do with you. Come with me to Mrs. Figg!"

Harry stood up and ran towards his old neighbour, while Padfoot followed him closely. Harry's heart pumped fast: Sirius was alive! He was now with him! He was sure that Remus would like to know this before anybody else. The problem was that he knew the news shouldn't be put in a letter, so the best way was to ask Mrs. Figg (a Squib who had been watching Harry closely since he started to live with his aunt Petunia, the Halloween night of fifteen years ago) if he could use the Floo to make a call.

When he arrived to the door, he stopped and tried to recover his breath.

"Sirius, I think you should go to the back garden. Mrs. Figg's house is full of cats," Padfoot interrupted him, because he liked chasing cats in his dog form, "and I don't think is a good idea to chase her cats when I am going to ask her for help. Just go to the back garden and hide, and when I give you a sign, we'll give Remus a good scare."

Padfoot pulled his tongue out of his mouth, like he was trying to show he was laughing, and did as Harry had asked him. The young boy knocked the door, and soon the old woman was opening it.

"Harry, what a surprise! Would you like to stay here and have some tea with me?"

"Yes, Mrs. Figg," he answered, smiling deeply. "But first I need to do a call with the Floo. I think you should prepare tea for more than the two of us."

"Why? Is there any problem with your relatives, Harry?"

"No, they are behaving OK. It's just something I discovered and I need to share with Professor Lupin."

"Remus Lupin, you say?" Mrs. Figg giggled.

"What's the matter?"

"Go and do the call. You'll discover it."

Harry - asking himself what was so funny about Remus - took a bit of powder from a flowerpot which was next to the fireplace, threw it at the fire, which turned instantly into a green emerald fire, and shouted, "Remus Lupin!" Harry knew his old professor had a flat in London, but he didn't know where exactly.

The well-known sensation of his head spinning like mad while his knees where standing on the hard floor at Mrs. Figg's dining hall lasted twenty seconds or so. Harry closed his eyes and only opened them when the spinning stopped.

He was looking at a rather well tidied living room. There was a big sofa in front of the fireplace, red-coloured and old. The walls were sky blue (it needed one or two coats of paint) and were filled with photographs, both magical and Muggle, of his friends and family.

"Is anybody here?" Harry shouted. He heard noises from one of the doors, and Lupin went through the door. He looked at the fireplace, and, watching his best friend's son's face floating in the middle of the fire, blushed, but managed to ask, "Harry? What are you doing here? Is there any problem at your house?"

Soon, Harry noticed a few details that he had not caught before: there was a T-shirt thrown in the middle of the room, two pairs of shoes next to the door, and there was someone (a female) asking what was the matter. When he noticed Lupin did not have a shirt on, Harry knew he had caught his old professor in a bad situation, and blushed deeper than Lupin.

"Whoops, sorry, Professor, I didn't mean to…"

Tonks stuck her head out the door: today, her hair was her favourite way, bubble gum pink, but she seemed to not have clothes on the rest of her body. That made Harry blush even more than before, if that was possible. Tonks started to laugh at the face Harry had.

"Both of you are soooo cute when you blush!" she managed to say among laughter.

Harry rolled his eyes. 'This is sure something I didn't want to see,' he thought.

"Professor, I need you to come to Mrs. Figg's, I'm of the opinion that you have to see this."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'd rather tell you later, this is too embarrassing for me," Harry answered, making Tonks laugh louder.

"Is it important?"

"Yes, but it is good news. Bring Tonks and Dumbledore; I'm sure both of them will like to be here, too."

Lupin watched Harry, concerned, before saying, "OK, give us a few minutes."

"See you soon," Tonks shouted when he was pulling his head out of the fireplace.

* * *

Harry was waiting now with Mrs. Figg for Lupin, Tonks and Dumbledore while sipping some tea and receiving the teases of the old woman, who obviously knew that Lupin and Tonks were together.

"Since when do you know this?" Harry asked his neighbour.

"They have been going out for about a month," she answered, giggling. "I'm not going to give you the "Told you so" lecture, but it was kind of funny the face you had when you came back."

Harry did not reply to this, because the people he had asked were now Apparating into the house.

"Good afternoon, Harry," the Headmaster said, calmly. "Why were you calling us?"

Harry remembered what had happened a few weeks ago, when he had been told about the Prophecy that signalled him as the only one who could kill Voldemort: he had broken a few of Dumbledore's possessions and had shouted at him. He looked at Lupin and Tonks, and he thought: 'Great, now I don't know if I should blush for what I have seen a few minutes ago of for what I did at Dumbledore's office.'

Tonks started to giggle again, something Dumbledore noticed but didn't ask why she was doing it. Instead of that, he motioned Harry to tell his story.

"Well, it's rather complicated, and I'd like to go outside, to the back garden, so that I can explain it better."

Harry motioned the adults to the garden, where Dumbledore conjured some chairs and a table, where everybody put his cup of tea.

"What's the matter, Harry?"

He just whistled and smiled. Harry saw Padfoot going out of his hiding place, and said aloud, "Could you turn around and tell me what you think of this?"

When Remus turned around and he saw a black dog running towards him, his jaw fell and could not move until Padfoot jumped over him.

"Sirius?" Dumbledore asked, confused. Tonks was as surprised as Lupin was, and now she was looking at her boyfriend lying on the grass, hugging the dog and saying incoherent things which were muffled by the licking the dog was giving him.

"He told me he couldn't change back to human," Harry said, beaming at the reaction Lupin had.

Dumbledore, smiling deeply, took his wand out and flicked it towards the dog. In a matter of seconds, all the fur was replaced by skin, the snout turned into a nose and clothes covered his body. The only thing that didn't change was the length of the hair at his head. It was truly Sirius Black.

"Remus, old friend, I thought I would never see you again!" he laughed, hugging his friend.

Lupin was extremely happy to see that he wasn't the last one of the Marauders (Peter's treachery had expelled him from the group) and said, with a faltering voice, "But… we thought… you were…"

"Cancel the funerals, 'because I'm not!" Sirius shouted, happily, while he stood up and helped his friend to do the same. Then he went directly to his godson and hugged him, too. Both of them were too happy to say anything to the other. Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling with joy.

"Here is a family that nobody had thought would reunite again" he whispered to Tonks, still shocked at the sight of her uncle.

Sirius broke apart from Harry and messed his hair.

"It is so good to be back!" Sirius declared. "Do you think it is possible to ask Molly for some food? I'm starving!"

Everybody laughed at this.

"Sure! We should go to Headquarters; the Order will be delighted to welcome you back. And after we eat, you should tell us what happened after you fell behind the veil," Harry said.

"That will be difficult," Sirius said, with a sombre tone, "so I will tell it only once, because I'm not willing to remember it all more than twice."

Harry was horrified at what he had just said. "Sorry, Sirius, I didn't want to…"

"There is no need of apologies, kiddo. You have the right to know. After all, I have a few messages to deliver from the "Other Side"."

"Are you serious?" Remus asked.

"Yes, for both the meanings of your question," he answered, laughing.

Harry didn't get it at first, but when he realised at the similarities of sounding between 'Sirius' and 'serious' he laughed alongside with the others.

"Well, I'm sure you are eager to come back to your old house. Shall we go, then?"

"Erm…" Harry interrupted. He didn't want to be left out at Privet Drive.

"Don't worry, Harry. You will do Side-Along Apparition with me," Dumbledore said, knowing what concerned Harry. "We will go directly to the hall."

"Won't we wake my mother's portrait up?" Sirius asked.

"That, my friend," Remus said, smiling, "is something you will discover soon."

And they Disapparated.

* * *

The group Apparated at Grimmauld Place. Sirius went to the portrait, expecting it to shriek, but no sound came through the moth-filled curtains that covered it.

"Wow! Did you finally managed to put her down?" he said, incredulous.

"No. Auntie's portrait is still there," Tonks said, pointing at the frame. "I'll show you…" and with no word, she kicked the infamous umbrella stand she always tripped over. It made a very disturbing noise that would have waken even a deaf person.

The silence after that was not broken by Sirius' mum's portrait, but by the dull sound Mrs. Weasley made when she fainted after watching Sirius standing in front of her, smiling.

"Shouldn't we take her into the kitchen?" Remus said, concerned. "Watching the dead come back is not very good for the living," he joked. Sirius punched him playfully, and Remus feigned that he was badly hurt on his arm.

"Professor Dumbledore, may I call my friends? I'm sure they would like to talk with him," Harry said.

"Don't have to. Since we can make noise in the hall, you only have to click here." Remus answered. He pushed a white button; which was next to the door, and a siren sounded on the first floor. "They know that means news."

Harry waited, smiling broadly. The first to enter was Ron, followed close by Hermione. Then it was Ginny, Neville, Luna and all the adults that had been here since the other day: Hermione's parents, Neville's grandmother and Luna's dad. All the youngsters stopped dead when they saw Sirius trying to reanimate Mrs. Weasley.

"Sirius?" Ron and Hermione asked, sceptical.

"Yep, it's me, boys," he answered, laughing.

"We thought you were… dead," Hermione whispered.

"As I told Moony, cancel the funerals! I'm alive and kicking!"

Harry laughed. This attracted the attention from his friends, who went and hugged him.

"Hey, mate, are you OK?" Ron asked.

"Are you really asking that question?" Harry said, smiling. "I've recovered my godfather; I'm with my friends, who should tell me something about their blossoming relationship…"

Ron and Hermione blushed deeply, while Harry laughed at them.

"It was about time you told her what you felt, Ron. But I must say that I consider Hermione as a sister, so I give you some advice; you hurt her, in any way you can think, and I will beat you into a bloody pulp."

"Oh, my! Hermione, protect me!" Ron said, mock-concerned while he hid behind his laughing girlfriend.

"Don't worry, Ron. I'm happy for both of you. I know you deserve each other."

Ron and Hermione gave him a thumbs up, while Ginny threw herself in his arms.

'When did Ginny become such a beautiful girl?' Harry thought, noticing that Ginny had grown a lot since the last time he had seen her: her red hair was now shoulder-length, and shone at the light in the kitchen; her torso was more curved, and Harry could notice her… through his and her T-shirt; her long legs were now a bit tanned…

'Stop thinking like that,' Harry told himself. 'She's your best friend's little sister, for God's sake.'

"I've missed you a lot, Harry," she said when they broke. "I expect you are staying here from now."

"I'd love to, but I don't know what Dumbledore will say about that," he told her, smiling.

Harry then turned to Neville and Luna, who were smiling awkwardly at him, and hugged them.

"How are both of you?"

"We're OK, Harry. Dumbledore brought us here when he knew about Bellatrix Lestrange's mission. There is not much to do here, but it's nice to have everybody around."

"Dad and I arrived here yesterday," Luna said with her dreamy voice. "He has joined the Order, and now we are living here until more wards can be put around our house."

"I'm sorry, guys," Harry said. "If I hadn't taken you to the Ministry, you wouldn't be here."

"Exactly," Ginny said, behind him. "If you hadn't taken the five of us to the Ministry, you would have gone alone, Voldemort would have the Prophecy, you would be dead and we would be either mourning you or hiding or dead because Voldemort would have killed us."

Harry was shocked at the bluntness of the lecture Ginny was giving him: although he didn't like it, he knew it was the truth.

"So please, don't feel guilty about it. Everybody got out alive and we have even recovered Sirius. The only ones who have lost something there are the Death Eaters and Voldemort."

Harry smiled at this.

"When did you become so intelligent?"

"Always been like this, Harry. You just didn't notice I was."

Harry noticed that Ginny was a bit sad now. He knew he hadn't talked much with her, until she was in his fourth year and had been over him.

"Sorry, Ginny. I should have talked to you."

"There is nothing to be sorry about. I should have tried to overcome my shyness, but I couldn't stop blushing if you were around."

Harry was about to reply, but Sirius interrupted them, hugging the four teenagers, "Come on! It's time for us to have something to eat! I'm alive!"

Harry laughed and dragged Ginny, Neville and Luna into the kitchen, which had magically expanded so that everybody could get into it

* * *

Mrs. Weasley was cooking, aided by Mrs. Granger and Lupin (he had replaced Tonks, who was an absolute disaster at house-working), and now delicious smells were coming out of the saucepans and the oven. Mr. Weasley was now conjuring knives and forks for all the people who were going to eat at the house, while Sirius and the twins were competing for being the life and soul of the party with their pranks and their jokes, trying to attract attention.

In the end, everybody sat down at their seats, reserving the one at the head for Sirius, who took it rather reluctantly. All the people were looking at him, curiously.

"Hey, come on, what's the problem?" Sirius said, a bit nervous. "I promise I'll tell you everything after this delicious meal Molly has prepared. Tuck in!"

Everybody laughed at him, and started to eat. Sirius was, by far, the one who ate the most, beating even Ron at it. When everybody was finished with the desserts (nearly all of them were exactly like Hogwarts ones, which made Harry think Dobby had been involved in the cooking) all the people who were in the kitchen stared at Sirius, waiting for him to start his story about how had he managed to get out of wherever he had been after falling through the veil.

Grinning, Sirius said, "Before I tell you what happened to me, I'd like to ask you a question. Who did that fantastic job at the hall shutting my old mum up forever?"

Everyone present directed their gazes at Ron, who immediately blushed deeply. Hermione was sitting next to him, and, smiling, kissed him on his cheek, mumbling something in his ear. That made the blush on Ron's face turn into a two or three times darker tone. After a rather uncomfortable silence, Tonks broke the silence laughing, "Well, dear Uncle Sirius" she said in a mocked serious tone, making everybody laugh ("Don't call me Uncle, Tonks, that makes me feel old," Sirius's voice was heard among the laughter), "since the hero of the story doesn't want to open his mouth to tell his contribution to this great improvement in our lives, I think it's my duty to retell what happened that night four days ago." She breathed deeply, and started, "Professor Dumbledore had just told us that he had heard about Bellatrix Lestrange," (Sirius growled when he heard the name of his cousin). "Apparently, she had been sent by You-Know-Who on a mission to try and capture anyone who had been with Harry two weeks ago at the Department of Mysteries. The Weasleys had been sent to Grimmauld Place, Neville and his Grandmother, Augusta, had been told of the whereabouts of the Headquarters and where moving here as soon as they could, and Mr. Lovegood and his daughter were in Sweden, on an expedition to try and catch a Crumple-Horned Snorkack. There still were two people to look for, Harry and Hermione."

"Harry was fast told that the wards around his aunt and uncle's house had been reinforced so that nobody with the purpose of hurting him or any of his neighbours could get into a round area of approximately two kilometres around it."

"The main problem was when we tried to get in contact with Hermione. There was nobody at her parents' house, neither at the dentist office, but then Professor McGonagall said something about Hermione and her parents going and recovering 'the lost time'. I thought that, since they are Muggles, they would go to a park and have some kind of picnic, so we started to search in all London parks, starting with the biggest ones. We had all the Order seeking her."

"In the end, Remus found them near Hyde Park. Unfortunately, Bellatrix had arrived before him, and Hermione was battling desperately against her. When she saw Remus, she sort of got distracted and Bellatrix knocked her out, and before anybody could do anything, she took her with a Portkey."

"We went back to Headquarters, bringing Hermione's parents with us. When we got into the house, Ron ran to greet his friends, but he was dumbstruck when he saw they were not with us. Your mum was shouting, and while we were trying to close the curtains, he asked as about Harry and Hermione. We told him first about Harry, but when we silenced your mum, he asked again about Hermione. Professor Dumbledore told him that she had been kidnapped and…" Tonks shuddered. "Molly, sorry if you feel offended, but your youngest son has beaten you as the scariest person in the world."

Mrs. Weasley smiled at the statement.

"Well, Ron started to shout, and that of course woke your mum up, but he turned to her and threatened her to do lots of horrible things if she said one more word. Since then, she's been in the state you have seen her portrait."

Sirius chuckled, and asked, "How did you manage to save Hermione, then? 'Cause as far as I know, she's not still with my cousin."

"Quaero Amoris Anima," Ron mumbled. The tension was so thick that it could be cut with a knife, but Sirius laughed at the red face Ron was showing.

"There is nothing to be ashamed of, Ron," Sirius assured him. "Only the opposite, you should be proud, because the feelings you have for Hermione must be incredibly intense so that you could take her from wherever she had been taken. I bow to you, my second cousin's youngest son."

Ron managed to show a smile in the middle of the blush, and put one of his long arms around Hermione's waist, while she did the same around his shoulders.

"Now, Sirius, stop teasing them," Harry said, smiling too. "I think you should tell us what happened after the Veil thing at the Ministry."

Sirius' smile became less deep. It was obviously a touchy topic for him.

"OK, godson, but I think we should try to get somewhere more comfortable, because it will be a very long story. If we go to the library and summon a few armchairs, I promise I will tell you everything."

And, without a word, everybody followed Sirius to Grimmauld Place's library.

* * *

What do you think? Sirius coming back was something nearly everybody wanted, I'm sure of that. Now, you will only have to wait to the next chapter, 'Messages From The Other Side'! 


	4. Messages From the Other Side

Chapter 4

Messages From The Other Side

When everybody was settled on some comfortable armchairs and sofas (Hermione on Ron's lap, Harry on an armchair with Ginny next to him), Sirius, who was sitting down in an armchair too, started to talk about what had happened nearly a month ago, at the Department of Mysteries into the Ministry of Magic.

"This story is very long, so I'd like if you did not ask anything until I am finished with it. I think I should start with the exact moment everything changed; when I crossed the Veil after Bellatrix used that Stunning Charm on me to shove me through it."

"First of all, everything went pitch black. I had my wand with me, so I tried to use every charm that could illuminate the place: Lumos, Incendio... but nothing worked. Then I just stayed for hours there, in the obscurity, until something strange happened. I was in front of a very big group of people, it looked like some kind of a jury, and I could swear that I could recognise one or two of them, but they were dead, of that I'm sure." Here Sirius paused for a moment seeming to gather his thoughts.

"Then one of the guys there, who seemed to be the big boss, started to say aloud; 'Sirius Orion Black, you have been brought here so that the Deceasengamot can decide about your future in the Land of the Dead. You have arrived here through the Veil of Death, which was used before as a means of giving the death penalty among the living. But, since you have arrived here by accident, we, the Deceasengamot, will decide which your future will be. So that it can help us to make that decision, we will go through all your memories along your whole life.' Then, two big bowls turned up from the nothingness. The big boss said that one of them would show the good things I had done in my life and the other one the bad things I had done. The latter was the one which started first. It showed images at a very fast rate, but I could see one of them; it was when I sent Snape to where Remus was hiding before he transformed into a werewolf, in my sixth year. Fortunately, the list of bad things I had done was very short, and it only lasted two or three minutes for me, although I think their conception of time was different for them." Again Sirius paused to catch his breath and organize his thoughts.

"After that, the other bowl lit and went through all the good things I had done since I was born. If the first was fast, this one was a hurricane: I couldn't see any of those memories very well, but I managed to pick two of them from the whirl: one was when James, Peter and I studied to become Animagus and be with Remus during his transformations; the other was just before I fell through the veil, while trying to help Harry to get out of the Ministry. Afterwards, the judge said that all the jury should have to discuss about what would happen to me after all the memories were shown. They stood there, whispering for hours and sometimes yelling a bit, and finally they went back to their seats and the judge talked."

''Sirius Orion Black, it is obvious to everybody here that the charges put on you in the living land were completely incorrect, so you will be free. However, we have not decided if you should stay here, among us, or go back to where you belonged. So, we are putting that decision into your own hands, and you will meet someone who will help you to decide. We hope you make the right decision.''

"Then, everything went pitch black again. I decided to have a sleep, since I knew this would last a long time. When I woke up, I was in the middle of a very big field, covered with grass and trees, and what I saw there..."

Sirius sniffed slightly at this moment, and his gaze directed to his godson, who was listening intently to him.

"I couldn't believe my eyes. In front of me, smiling, looking exactly like they were the last time I had seen them, stood Lily and James."

Harry had to fight against his tears falling from his eyes, and nearly nobody in the room had a dry eye.

"The first thing they did was to greet me there and they started to talk with me about the subject of all the things that had happened here since they died. Of course, they had seen all your life, Harry, but they also wanted to know a few other things they had not managed to pick up."

"After a week, it was time for me to say if I wanted to stay or to come back. First I thought on staying, since my friends were there and I would not get bored like I did last year here, but in the end Lily convinced me to come back and take care of Harry, making me see how miserable you were, blaming yourself - rather stupidly, I have to say, since you are not to blame - at the Dursleys'. If the truth must be told, Lily threatened to use a few very nasty hexes on me if I stayed there, and even in the Land of the Dead hexes work, I can tell you," Sirius pointed out, shivering a bit.

"Later, I was in front of the judge and he asked me: 'Sirius Orion Black, what have you decided of your staying place for the next years?' I answered him: 'I have decided to come back to the Living Land, but I don't know how to do it."

"The judge explained me that it was impossible to send me back through the Veil again, since it was only the entrance, but there was a place in Great Britain - he did not say where - that could be used as an exit from there. He showed me the way, but the main problem was that I only could go through it in my Animagus form, since the hole was not big enough for my human self."

"I appeared near Stonehenge, something that surprised me a bit. First thing I tried was changing back, but I couldn't. I had my wand on the pocket of my pants, but I couldn't take it out to change myself, so I tried to go to the only place I could think of where someone would be able to help me; to Harry's relative's house. And the rest of my story, you know."

"I have told you that there were some messages from the Other Side. Well, James and Lily asked me to be the messenger and helped me to memorise them all."

Sirius looked again at Harry, smiled sadly at him, and said; "Harry, your parents have been watching all the things that have happened to you since you had to go to the Dursleys'. They hated all the things you had to go through there, especially not knowing about the magical world and the abuse they put you through." The adults gasped, and Dumbledore looked especially concerned; he had sent Harry to his aunt's house, but he had not worried about him until it was time for him to come to Hogwarts, since he thought Petunia would try to raise Harry as her own son.

"They were happy when you went into the Great Hall for the first time, and very proud of you for all the times you have had to face Voldemort. They have seen you doing your best to help everybody you know stay away from harm, like when you saved Ginny three years ago, or when you told us what had happened to Arthur. But, over all, they asked me to tell you one thing: wherever they are, whatever is happening to you, they love you, and they couldn't be more proud of you."

Harry couldn't stand it anymore, and threw himself over Sirius. He let the tears fall from his eyes, which went over Sirius' robe, while the Animagus caressed his black messy hair and said a few words of support. When they separated, Sirius told him in a low voice; "By the way, they told me you should not be there for a very long time."

He smiled and went back to his seat.

"That's one thing down. Let's go with the rest." Sirius paused and looked over to his dear friend Moony.

"Remus, James told me that we had to take Harry out of the hellhole he has been living in every summer at his so-called relatives' house. He gave us one year to do it, or he will use a special hex on the first who arrived there if we have not done what he asked us to do. He mentioned something about skinning alive, I think."

Lupin looked alarmed at this.

"Albus," Sirius continued, looking at the old Headmaster, "both of my friends said that, in their opinion, you only have two options; you let Harry out of going to the Dursleys' this summer and not make him go back there, or they will make your next life impossible, starting with a funny welcome and non-stop from there. Actually, James was snorting a bit when he thought on what to use on you when you were with them."

"Arthur, Molly," he said to the old couple, "James and Lily told me they were very happy from the very moment you met him at King's Cross Train Station. They had met both of you before they had to go into hiding, and they knew you were two very great parents. They said they couldn't give you enough thanks for taking care of Harry all these times he has been at the Burrow and for being the nearest thing to a family he has ever had since he lost them."

"Ron," the young man was surprised, because he didn't expect Harry's parents would have a message for him, "they were very happy to see that you became Harry's best friend from the very first moment you met him. They have seen all the adventures both of you have been through since you were in your first year at Hogwarts, and they are very proud of your loyalty towards Harry; and his towards you. They also expect you stay like this for your whole life."

"Sirius, can you give me a sec?" Ron said. Then he looked up and said, "James and Lily Potter, wherever you are, don't worry; I'll be your son's best friend forever. Thank you."

Everybody chuckled at this, and Sirius kept up with the dealing.

"Hermione, my friends also thank you for being such a big support during these years. Although they know Harry is intelligent, they also know too that without your help he would not have been able to go through all the exams he has had to do. They would love to see that you still are Harry's friend even when all of you are old."

"I'll be, don't worry," she said, smiling.

"Well, I think that's everything I had to do," Sirius declared while standing up.

"Harry, I'd like to have a little chat with you now, in the kitchen. Sirius, would you like to stay with us?" Dumbledore said.

"Yes, of course," he said.

The three people went into the kitchen, closed the door and Dumbledore used a few charms to prevent eventual eavesdroppers.

"OK, that's done. The first thing I'd like to discuss is this summers arrangements. You still have to be with the Dursleys..."

"Come on, Albus," Sirius interrupted. "Didn't you hear me before? Harry is not going back to that hole you call his relatives' house ever."

"Sirius, I need you to calm down. I was going to say that Harry only has to stay one more week with his relatives, and I'll make sure nothing bad happens to him."

Harry smiled at this statement, and Sirius said: "You still have the mirror I gave you, no, Harry?"

The lad's smile faltered. "I'm sorry, Sirius. When you where at... the Other Side, I thought you were dead, and when I saw the mirror I tried to use it to communicate with you, but when it didn't work I threw it into my trunk and it broke."

Sirius looked a bit sad, but he recovered himself and replied: "Don't worry, kiddo, it can be repaired. You only have to send me all the pieces and I'll mend it."

"OK, do you have any other questions to ask?" Both Sirius and Harry shook their heads. "Well, in that case, I'll escort you to Privet Drive. I'll tell you everything you need to know for the next weeks and we will have a chat."

Harry hugged Sirius one more time and went with Dumbledore to the hall, where he Side-Along Apparated to Surrey.

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Sirius sighed when he saw his godson going out of the house and stood up. The next day, he would have to do a lot of things so that he could be free again and be out of Grimmauld Place without having problems with other witches and wizards and being able to buy a few things he needed.

He went upstairs to the third floor (he laughed when he saw his old mother's portrait completely shut up) and when he passed by the first floor room doors, he remembered he still had one message to deliver, but he had not said anything because he knew it was something private only the receiver should know. He knocked the door and the red-headed girl stuck her head out of the door.

"Sirius? What are you doing here?"

"I had to deliver the last message," he replied, smiling.

"Why didn't you give it to me before?" Ginny asked, confused.

"It was something I didn't want to say in front of a certain someone," he admitted, chuckling. "Tell me about that guy you told your brother you were going out with, Dean Thomas. It was a bluff, no?"

The young girl was surprised.

"How did you know it?"

"It's an advantage of being on the Other Side, you can see what's happening here. So, it was a bluff. Well, the message for you has two parts. The first is from Lily. It says, 'Don't give up.'"

"Don't give up?"

"Yes. I don't know how to tell you this, but somehow Lily knows that Harry has... feelings for you, but he hasn't realised them yet. Like Ron, he is too thick to realise what is happening to him."

Ginny giggled at it.

"If what you say is true, what do you think I should do?"

"That's where the second part of the message stands. It's from James, and I'm sure you will realise he was the action man of the group. 'Talk with him a bit and, hen you feel is right, take the bull by the horns.' In other words, snog him on the very first moment he shows interest in you."

The young girl smiled mischievously. "I'll do that, Sirius. Thanks for everything."

"Just make Harry happy. Potters have always had a thing for red-heads, and I'd bet he is not the exception to the rule. Good night, Ginny."

"Night, Sirius."

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Harry did not like Apparition a lot. It was very uncomfortable; it was like going by a very tight rubber tube, making it very difficult to breathe. When he thought he could not stand it any more, they landed. Harry opened his eyes and realised they were on Magnolia Crescent, a street which was near Privet Drive.

"Well, Harry, we have a lovely walk to your aunt's house, so while we walk, we will talk a bit about your next year at Hogwarts. Are you planning on restarting the D.A. when you come back?"

Harry thought a bit about it. He had not given any thought to it since he was caught last year.

"The main reason we started the D.A. was because Umbridge didn't let us practice spells for the O.W.L.s. Now that Voldemort is on the loose, I think we should keep it open so that everybody could have a way to defend themselves."

"If you think that is the good thing to do, we could make it official. That way, you would have the support of the school, and a teacher could be there to help you if you were in any need."

"What has happened with all those Educational Decrees?"

"They were revoked when I went back to my post of Headmaster, the 'lifelong' Quidditch ban on you among them. Your Firebolt will be given back to you as soon as possible. Furthermore, some parents of Hogwarts students have made a formal complaint due to the abuse of her position of High Inquisitor. Since your guardian had disappeared, nobody has been able to report what happened to you, so I think it should be done as soon as possible. I'd like you to be at the trial, because your testimony will be essential."

Harry nodded, caressing slightly the scarred words that had been in his right hand since last year; the Umbridge Toad had made him use a Blood Quill that wrote in his skin the words he wrote on a parchment: 'I will not tell lies'.

"If that will help send her to prison, I'll do it gladly."

"Very well, Harry," the old man replied. "There is another thing I would like to ask you. What did you think of fighting with your friends at the Department of Mysteries?"

"In spite of the fact that there were twelve maniacs behind the six of us, I managed to notice everybody did it rather well. For what happened to Ron, Ginny and Luna I think you should ask Ginny, she would be able to describe everything, but on Neville and Hermione I could say that they fought very well. Neville even tried to use Hermione's wand when his was broken."

"Could you tell me what you think are their strong points?"

"Why, sir?" the lad asked, curiously.

"I was considering the possibility of training the six of you as a fighting group. Should the necessity arise, it would help you to work alongside your friends in a team."

Harry smiled. "I expect there is never a situation in which we will be forced to fight that way."

"Neither do I, but it wouldn't hurt to do something about it."

"Right you are, Professor," Harry replied. Then he started to recall every memory of his friends, about their weaknesses and strengths, so that the Headmaster could know what he thought about them. He didn't like the idea of putting his friends in any danger, but he also knew that training with them would help him to save them. He decided to start on the easiest one.

"Ron is the person who knows best about making strategies. He is incredibly good at magic chess, and from what I can tell, he is able to think five or six moves after the moment he is playing. When he applies himself, he can get very good marks, but he is better at physical stuff, like Quidditch or things like those."

"Hermione is the most intelligent of us. She knows what to look for when she is doing a research at any subject she thinks of. She works very hard at schoolwork even when there is something that distracts her. She always gets very good marks, but she has a lack of physical abilities because she spends a lot of time studying."

Now it was where the difficult things started; he didn't know Ginny, Neville and Luna enough to say enough things about them, but what he had was good enough.

"Ginny would be the one Death Eaters underestimate the most, since she is petite. That would be their mistake, because I know she has a good sort of very nasty spells under her sleeves, especially the Bat-Bogey Hex. She is agile and fast, and the Quidditch training she has done since last year improves that."

"On Neville's side, I have to say he is one of the most underrated students at school. The main problem he has had all these years is lack of confidence, due to his grandmother, who is always comparing him to his parents and he feels overshadowed by them, and then Snape..."

"Professor Snape, Harry," Dumbledore corrected him.

"... is always making fun of him in class, and that breaks his concentration. Maybe that's the reason he doesn't manage to do very well in Potions."

"Luna is the one I know the least of. Ginny knows her better than anyone else, since they are friends practically from their first year. She may be dreamy and believe in things nobody would really think of, but she is rather good at fighting. She was one of the first to learn a spell at the DA. Ginny once told me something about her being good at Divination, but I'm not sure if that should be said as a good thing."

"For your information, Miss Lovegood has the ability of Foresight, which allows her to see what happens in the next future."

Harry was surprised by that piece of information. He should talk with her about that, but he could see that maybe that was the reason she was so strange, the possibility of knowing what could happen in the future would drive anyone insane.

"I'll talk with your friends to find out if they want to join you in this project. And I would like your help on another project related to your training."

"Well, if it helps me, I'd like to do it, but what would it require from me?"

"Would you like to have your own genealogical tree?"

"My genealogical tree?" he said, surprised. "How?"

"There is a charm that could help us to write all your family in a special piece of parchment. Not only would you be able to know the names of your ancestors, you would also be able to know their powers and yours too."

Harry was delighted at the thought of it. It sounded nice, and he wanted to know who his family was. The only blood relatives he had ever met were the Dursleys, and he didn't felt connected to them.

"I've never known anything about the Potters and my mom's parents, so I'd love to do it. When could that be done?"

"The trial against Umbridge is going to be held in ten days, so I think it could be a good thing that after the trial you came with me to Hogwarts. I can arrange everything to be prepared for that day, and it would last no more than one hour."

"Cool!"

"One last thing before I leave you here." They had just arrived at the door of Number Four, Privet Drive. "Someone is going to meet you tomorrow. He will have some instructions with him, and I expect you will treat him well."

"Who is he?"

"I'd rather not spoil the surprise," the old man said with a smile. "I just can say that he will be here at nine o'clock. Be prepared for his visit."

"I'll be ready."

"Get in there. Your relatives won't ask you anything about your whereabouts."

"Thanks, sir."

And, without any other word, he went into the house, went upstairs and, for the first time in weeks, he slept the whole night without a nightmare.

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So, what do you think? This chapter was not easy to write, especially when it came to write everything Sirius saw at the Other Side. I'm waiting for your replies!

And wait for the next chapter, 'Last week at the Dursleys'!


	5. Last Week At The Dursleys

Chapter 5

Last week at the Dursleys

At half-past eight, Harry was awake, was dressed with his cousin's hand-me-downs (the only Muggle clothes he had) and had tidied the whole room. He had spent the whole morning since he opened his eyes questioning himself about who could be this mysterious visitor Dumbledore had mentioned the night before.

He had dismissed immediately his friend or Sirius and Lupin, because he had seen them at Grimmauld Place the day before and it would be strange that Dumbledore had mentioned it would be a surprise. Then he thought of Hagrid and smiled: the first (and only) time Hagrid had met the Dursleys, Dudley had finished with a pig's tail, and his parents had to take him to a private hospital in London. But the half-giant surely would not be the one who came to Privet Drive, because he attracted attention like the light attracted moths.

Another possibility could be Professor Snape; could it be that Dumbledore wanted Harry to keep studying Occlumency? No, since he could tell that the old Headmaster thought Harry would like to meet this visitor, and everybody knew that Snape's hatred towards him was one step below Voldemort's.

Nevertheless with the lack of information, he had prepared everything in his little room so that he could receive him or her in a good manner.

At that time, he remembered he had to send Sirius the mirror with all the shatters. He knew that he would be back with his godfather in a week, but it would be great to have someone to talk with during the next days. He wrote a short note to him, telling what had happened in his journey with Dumbledore and asking him to send the mirror back as soon as possible. Then, he prepared the package cautiously, trying not to leave a shatter behind, and he tied both the note and the package to Hedwig.

"You can stay with them until they give you the answer, OK?"

The snowy owl hooted to agree and left into the sunny day. Harry sat down again at his bed and, in the exact moment his clock rang to say it was nine o'clock, someone Apparated into the room.

"Harry Potter, sir!"

Harry smiled again; only Dobby, the house-elf he had freed from the Malfoys, would call him like that.

"Dobby! How nice of you to visit me! Sit down, please," he said, pointing at the bed.

"Thank you, Harry Potter sir," he answered, grinning. "Dobby asked Professor Dumbledore if Dobby could visit Harry Potter sir, and Dumbledore said yes! And he also asked me to give you these things for you, Harry Potter sir!"

Dobby then gave Harry two letters and a small package.

"Professor Dumbledore told Dobby to tell Harry to open the package first, Harry Potter sir."

Harry, with his natural curiosity, opened it carefully, and he was dumbstruck by the content. It was an egg, but not a normal egg: it was a shiny and multicoloured egg, and all the colours twirled constantly. It was very light, and by the touch of it Harry could tell it was very hard, too.

"Do you know what this is, Dobby?" Harry asked the house-elf.

Dobby shook his head fast, and his ears batted.

"No, Harry Potter sir, but Professor Dumbledore said the answer would be on the red envelope, Harry Potter sir."

The young man took the red envelope and he took the letter from the interior. He recognised the neat and clean handwriting of Albus Dumbledore, and he started to read it:

_Dear Harry, _

_As you may have heard from one of your classes with Hagrid at Hogwarts, phoenixes are single their infinite life, because there are no male and female phoenixes. They can put their own eggs and they fertilize them themselves, but this only happens once or twice in centuries. _

_ A few days ago, I was working on a few documents related to the next year at Hogwarts, when Fawkes asked me to help him (I use the 'him' because is the only pronoun I can think when it's related to him) to do something related to his egg. I was surprised, because of what I told you before in this letter. _

_ When I approached him, I saw it between his legs. I had seen an egg once before (I was given Fawkes long ago) but it surprised me in spite of it. _

_I asked Fawkes why he had decided to do this, and he told me I should give it to you, Harry. You should be grateful, because phoenixes only give their eggs to the ones they trust the most, and surely you have impressed him a lot. _

_Now, a few tips for the care of the egg: try to keep it warm, not very hot like it would be for dragons, but approximately at your body's temperature; talk to him about you and what are you doing, phoenixes can hear what it is said from the outside of their egg; although the shell is hard, I do not recommend you to let it fall to the floor, it isn't healthful for the phoenix. _

_If you follow all these tips, it should hatch in two months approximately. Don't worry; I'm sure you will get a guide on how to care for your Phoenix from someone. _

_Read now the second letter, it is very important. _

_Yours, _

_Albus Dumbledore _

Harry was amazed: Fawkes had chosen him to look after his son! He certainly was happy when he knew the bird which would come outside of this egg would be his, and he would make sure it was raised well.

He put the egg next to his body, to start with the suggestion the Professor had given to him, and took the other envelope, which was gold. Also, this letter had been written by Dumbledore.

_Dear Harry, _

_I am writing you this letter to let you know the change in Dobby's status. Since you freed him from the Malfoys, he has been nearly three years in liberty, something he liked a lot after the punishment he had suffered from them. He savoured what being free meant, and then he came to Hogwarts to take a job with Winky in your fourth year. He asked for a salary, and I gave him one gladly, alongside with free days, but he rejected having too much salary and free days. _

_Now, you will be asking yourself, "Why nearly three years?" _

Harry snorted. The first time he had read the first paragraph he had not noticed it, but that sentence made him think of it. He knew Dobby had been freed three days before the exams started, and the third anniversary had passed long ago. He kept reading the letter so that he could know what Dumbledore was talking about.

_I have said nearly three years because of that change in Dobby's status. The night Madame Umbridge knew about the Dumbledore's Army, she had asked all the elves not to help any of you, but they only obeyed her in the quality of professor. Dobby, who was only at the moment an employee of mine, decided to go against that order to warn you and your friends about it. _

_From what Dobby told me about that night, you ordered him to lie to Umbridge if she asked him about the warning Dobby had given you. _

_If Umbridge had ordered him something in a life-or-death situation, Dobby, since he was not bound to a family or to the school (as the other house-elves are), he would have bound himself to her. It would have been against his will, but because of the magical contract existent among elves and wizards since centuries ago, he would have done that. _

_However, you were the first person to do that, and since that night, Dobby has been bound (very gladly, I have to admit it) to the house of Potter. _

_Before you try to do anything about it (I'm sure you have thought of giving Dobby clothes) you should think on Winky, Mr. Crouch's house-elf. If you remember the Quidditch Cup finals day, you should remember that from the moment Winky was free she has been in a continuous bad state due to her sadness. I'm pretty sure that Dobby would feel the same way if you freed him, so please keep him with you. _

_Since you are Dobby's master, I think you also should try to ask him about the Black's elf, Kreacher. He won't say a word to anybody about it, and I would like to know what happened to him. _

_Finally, treat Dobby well. I'm sure you will be a good master for him. _

_Yours sincerely, _

_Albus Dumbledore._

Harry raised an eyebrow. "I'll die of boredom if Hermione hears about this," he thought.

"Dobby, are you truly bound to me?" Harry asked the elf.

"Yes, Harry Potter sir! Dobby told Professor Dumbledore about it, and Professor Dumbledore said Dobby should not tell Harry Potter sir until Professor Dumbledore thought it was good, and last week Professor Dumbledore told Dobby that today Dobby would see his Master!" he finished, jumping with joy.

Harry noticed then that Dobby was wearing a pillow cover with a crest he had not seen before on it. It was not Hogwarts' crest or Black family's crest, and he was curious about it.

"Dobby, what is this crest on your cover? And, by the way, why are you wearing a cover?"

Dobby stopped jumping and looked seriously at Harry.

"This, Harry Potter sir, it's the Ancient House of Potter crest."

It was very beautiful. It was divided in four parts by golden threads. Each part had a red background and a drawing: the top at the left showed a silvery sword with a golden hilt engraved with rubies (Harry thought it looked like the Gryffindor sword he had taken out of the Sorting Hat in his second year); the top at the right had a wand made of different wood each part; the bottom at the left showed a phoenix burning in a fire, and the bottom at the right had a lion walking on his back legs. Finally, on the top, it could be seen a sentence in French, engraved in a black thread: _Courageux jusqu'a la Mort._

"And Dobby is wearing the cover because, since Dobby is a servant of the House of Potter, Dobby has to wear it."

"Dobby, since I am your master, I am going to put a few rules on the relationship we are going to have, and I expect you follow them, OK?"

"Yes, Harry Potter sir," Dobby answered, nodding.

"First rule: you will not call me 'sir', 'master' or something like that. I want you to treat me like my friends do, so you can call me Harry. You only have to use my surname if I am in a formal place, but if you feel better using my full name, you are free to do it. Did you understand that?"

"Yes, Harry Potter s…" Dobby stopped himself before he said 'sir'. He tried to hit his head with the lamp, but Harry stopped him before he hurt himself.

"Second rule: you will not punish yourself ever. If you think you have done something bad, you are to tell me, without doing any damage to you."

"Third rule: if you believe I am being a bad master (I still forbid you to call me that), you will tell me, and between both of us we will try to solve it."

"And last rule: if someone tries to hurt you or treats you badly, you will tell me that exact moment, unless I am sleeping or something like that. Is everything set, then?"

"Yes, Harry Potter, Dobby will follow all your rules."

Harry smiled. "Well, that's good. Now I would like to know if you would prefer wearing your clothes instead of that cover."

Dobby looked terrified. Obviously, he thought Harry was going to free him.

"Dobby, please, I am not going to do anything you don't like. I was just going to suggest you that you wear some clothes you like. We could have a look at one of those magazines my aunt has and, if you see something you like, you tell me and you could make it. That way, you would be wearing clothes but without me giving you clothes. Is that good for you?"

"Harry Potter sir does not want to give Dobby clothes, but he wants Dobby to wear clothes! Dobby is happy!"

Harry smiled.

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The rest of the week went very slowly. On Thursday, Hedwig went back to Privet Drive with the magic mirror. He used it when he received it, and he grinned when he saw Sirius on the other side. They chatted for a few minutes, and then Sirius said he had to leave, but that he would be back soon.

Finally, Sunday arrived. It would be the last one he would stay at the Dursleys (at least, from what Sirius had told everybody, his parents didn't want him to be there any more time). Dumbledore had sent him a note which said that he would pick him up at half-past eleven, so for that time Harry had put all his possessions in his trunk (with a little help from Dobby, who had enlarged the trunk) and had sent Hedwig to Grimmauld Place, since he knew he would be travelling by Portkey and surely Hedwig would not like it.

Harry could not be still, so he paced into his room, waiting impatiently for Dumbledore to appear at the door of the house. When the clock downstairs started to chime to declare it was the hour, someone rang the bell.

"Who the hell will be calling now?" Harry heard his Uncle Vernon shouting from the living room. The young man went to the hall, and when Vernon opened the door, he could see the imposing figure of Albus Dumbledore.

"Good morning, Mr. Dursley," he said, in a calm and polite voice, although the absence of the usual twinkle in his eyes could be an indicator of the anger he was feeling inside.

"G-g-good morning, sir," said Harry's uncle, obviously impressed by the older man. Dumbledore was wearing at that moment a light brown Muggle suit, with a red tie, a white shirt and black shoes, and his white beard and hair were much shorter than usual. In fact, if Harry did not know the voice of his director, he would have swore that he was in front of a Muggle bank manager, which obviously was what his uncle Vernon was thinking.

Then Dumbledore looked at Harry, who was at that moment coming down the stairs, and smiled. "Ah, good morning to you too, Harry."

"Good morning, Professor," he replied, amused at the reaction of his uncle.

"Professor?" Vernon had, apparently, recovered the ability of talking. "Are you telling me this man is one of those... _freaks_ that teach at your freak school?"

"He is the Headmaster," Harry said, coolly. "Professor Dumbledore, this is my uncle Vernon, who obviously hasn't got manners. Uncle Vernon, this is Professor Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorcerer, Chief Warlock and Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards."

"Incredible, Harry. You have been able to memorise all those positions, when I myself am only able to remember half of them."

The young man grinned. "When I am here, I read whatever I pick up, and the other day the thing I picked was one of my old Hogwarts letters, and I managed to memorise that in a heartbeat."

"Excellent. Do you have everything prepared?"

"Yes. I've put everything into my trunk with some help from Dobby. He's been a great help this week."

"Good. Would you be kind and bring it downstairs? And don't forget to take the egg."

"Always have it with me, Professor," Harry laughed, pulling the phoenix egg out of the inner pocket Dobby had made in the cast-off shirts Harry had 'inherited' from his cousin. It had been good that the old shirts were baggy; if it wasn't for that, Harry would have had a terrible time.

"Excellent. Now, Mr. Dursley, would you be kind enough to take your wife to the living room while Harry comes down? I have to talk with both of you about something concerning Harry's future."

Harry could not hear the answer, because he had just arrived at his bedroom. He went for the trunk, which was resting on the foot of the bed, and picked it up. Fortunately, Harry had remembered to ask Dobby to use a Feather-Weight Charm to make the trunk weigh a few grams, so it was not very difficult for him to take it downstairs (Hedwig's cage was inside). When he arrived at the hall, nobody was there, so he went straight to the living room.

Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia were sitting on the sofa, looking at Dumbledore with a mix of fear and hate, while the latter was on a chintz armchair like the one he had summoned last year, at Harry's trial at the Ministry. When the older man saw Harry, he summoned another armchair, and he sat on it.

"Well, now that Harry is here," Dumbledore said, "we will discuss a few things about Harry's future, what he will do next summer, and his studies at Hogwarts School."

"In first place, you should know that the wizard that killed James and Lily Potter sixteen years ago, Lord Voldemort, is alive and on the loose. His main purpose is to find Harry by all means, and then kill him. Since he knows you two and your son are related to Harry, there is a possibility that he will try to come after you..."

"I KNEW you would mean problem to us, boy!" Uncle Vernon yelled, looking at Harry.

"For heaven's sake, give me a break! I'm fed up of you putting the blame on me, no matter who is the real one to blame!" Harry replied, angry at his uncle.

Vernon was about to shout at Harry again, when Dumbledore shut him up with a cold glare.

"This was other thing I wanted to talk with you about. As I'm sure you remember from the letter that was with Harry when I left him at your door, explaining what had happened the day before, I also had asked you to treat him as you would treat your son, with love."

"But that never happened. The only thing you did was to neglect him, to treat him like a servant, and to only care about him when he was in the worst shape. How did he manage to be such a great boy, with lots of friends and people who love him and would do anything he asked them to do just because of the loyalty they feel towards him, I don't know, but I'd rather have him than having the spoiled bad-mannered boy you have raised."

"You won't surely be talking about Dudders, no?" Aunt Petunia said, in a shaking voice.

"Yes, I'm talking about him. From what I've heard from the minder that has been watching over Harry since he was here, your son made a custom of beating Harry nearly everyday and was the one behind the impossibility of Harry to have any friends at primary school, and now he beats boys and girls which are five years younger than him and half his weight. That is the result of the education - or, more likely, the lack of - you have given Dudley, treating him like he was better than everybody else, which obviously he isn't."

That left both Vernon and Petunia speechless.

"Let's move on the next subject. You may remember Sirius Black, who three years ago had escaped from prison. In reality, he was innocent of the crime he was accused of, and since he is Harry's godfather, he has asked Harry to stay with him at his house."

"Is it possible for Sirius to be my guardian? I've wanted to live with him since I knew he was innocent, and having to stay here doesn't do anything good for me, apart from the protection which surely could be replaced by the Fidelius Charm Sirius' house is under."

Dumbledore thought about it very carefully. Harry's magical protection would only work if Harry could call that place 'his house', but he knew that, knowing that he could be with Sirius, Harry would not ever be able to call Privet Drive a name that usually was sided with love and protection, which he would never have there.

"We will have to talk about it with your actual guardians, Harry. If they don't want to give up your guardianship, you won't be able to do anything until your sixteenth birthday. Then, they would not be able to reject your decision, but you would still need a guardian until you are of age, which would be the next year."

"Great! When are we going to Sirius' place?"

"I was intending of talking about of your plan of studies for this year, but now that you show you want to have Sirius as your official guardian, we will leave that conversation for after your birthday," Dumbledore said, smiling. "Get prepared, we are going now."

Harry rose and went to the hall, where he waited for Dumbledore to make the Portkey which would take him to Number 12 Grimmauld Place.

"I think that sums it all up, Mr. and Mrs. Dursley." And with those words, Dumbledore stood up, Vanished the armchairs, took an old teapot and gave it to Harry, who disappeared into a whirl of colours.

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Sorry for making you wait that long, but I had started to write it when I submitted chapter 3, and I've had to rewrite a few things. Now, you will only have to wait for chapter 6, 'Second trial at the Ministry'!

If you want to see the Potter Family's Crest, go to It's not very good (I'm a lousy drawer) but it's the best thing I've managed to do. If someone sends me a better one, I'll thank him.


	6. Second Trial at the Ministry

Chapter 6

Second trial at the Ministry

Harry arrived at Grimmauld Place soon. He prepared himself for the landing, but he tripped with the trunk he had brought with him and fell to the floor of the hall.

He thought his disastrous arrival would have been unnoticed, but at the exact moment he was trying to stand up, Sirius went out of the kitchen and snickered at the sight of his godson.

"Harry, are you OK?" he said, between laughs.

"Well, if in your language 'being OK' means 'being on the floor with your arse aching' then yes, I'm OK," Harry answered, grinning both for being with Sirius and because he found the funny side of the position he was.

Sirius gradually stopped laughing and helped Harry to stand up.

"Shouldn't we call everybody to let them know you are here?" Sirius said, smiling.

"Sure, just let me carry this upstairs."

"No way, young man," Sirius replied, in a more serious tone. "Firstly, you don't know where your bedroom is, because as my godson you will have your own room. And secondly, all your friends are waiting for you in the kitchen, and they are very impatient to see you again."

"If you put it that way... Furthermore, I want to see everybody again and tell you about the meeting Dumbledore had with the Dursleys."

Sirius took the trunk and said, "Wow! This one is too light! Did you use a Feather-Weight Charm on it?"

"Nah, it was Dobby. He has helped me a lot this week."

"Dumbledore told me what you had done the day he had to get out of Hogwarts. From what I've heard, Dobby is delighted with you being his master."

"Yeah, but I've asked him not to call me 'master' or any stupid thing like that. Hey, by the way, where the hell is Kreacher?"

Sirius shrugged his shoulders. "I have no idea, but I'd bet everything I have that we won't hear from him ever."

"Did he go to the Malfoys' or the Lestranges'?"

"No. As far as I know, he has been taken to some kind of elfish jury to answer for crimes against the House of Black. Maybe you should ask Dobby."

"I'll do that. But not now, now I have to meet my friends. See you soon."

"Good luck, Harry," Sirius answered, winking at him.

Harry had no ideas about why Sirius would wish Harry luck, but he went into the kitchen. As soon as he closed the door, he was nearly knocked down by a shining red hurricane who wrapped her arms around his body. Harry was surprised that Ginny had beaten both Ron and Hermione to greet him, but he would not be the one to complain at this, so he just returned the embrace.

"I've missed you a lot, Gin. It seems that you missed me too."

Ginny let him go, and smiled at him while she blushed a bit.

"It's nice to have you here, Harry. The lovebirds barely talk with me; they'd rather eat each other's face."

Harry snickered. Then Ron and Hermione hugged him in turns with big smiles in their faces, and finally Mrs. Weasley gave him one of her famous bone-crushing hugs.

"Harry, it's great to have you back. I expect the Dursleys have treated you OK this week."

"Nah, they were as usual, but they didn't pay me any attention, so it wasn't really bad. Anyway, I have some great news for you, but I'd prefer to tell it when everybody is here."

"Oh, OK. It is not very probable that Arthur will be here at lunch, but surely part of the Order will make it."

Sirius came into the room at that moment, with Lupin accompanying him.

"Harry! It's great you are out of the hellhole, to quote your parents," Lupin said, smiling.

"I know. I can't believe I've left the Dursley's. Mrs. Weasley, are the twins and Bill going to come?"

"The twins will be here in a few minutes, but Bill is too busy to come. Why?"

"Because I can't wait to say the good news. Do you want to hear it now or at lunch?"

Nobody answered at first.

"Come on, kiddo, I'd bet everybody wants to know what the good news is," Sirius said, inquisitive.

"I won't have to go back to the Dursley's ever!"

Sirius beat everybody to hug his godson.

"Great! I was sure Dumbledore would make you to go back with them again next year."

"No way, man!" Harry said, smiling. "Dumbledore said that when I'm sixteen I will be able to choose who my guardian is, so 'Bye, Dursleys', 'Hello, Sirius'!"

Sirius laughed in a way that showed he was still that young man who could prank anybody at school without having problems and run with a werewolf only because he wanted to help a friend.

"That's good! I think that now James and Lily won't kick my arse when I arrive where they are."

Everybody laughed with him when he said that.

"What are your plans for your immediate future?"

"Have you heard about Umbridge's trial?"

"Yeah, Dumbledore mentioned it last week at a meeting of the Order, and Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville and Luna were told that they should be there with you, since Dumbledore says you are going to act as a witness as they are."

"Well, I had thought of buying some robes so that I could make a good impression at the trial and Muggle clothes so I can throw away all of Dudley's cast-offs. Would you like to come with me?"

"I would have gone with you even if you hadn't asked. You see, it is a godfather's duty to help his godson to choose nice clothing for himself. Anyway, I'm officially free of every charge thanks to Madame Bones, and I want to enjoy my freedom with my best friend's son. We could go tomorrow, if Dumbledore manages to arrange the duty."

"Sure!"

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That same afternoon, Ginny was lying in her bed, in her bedroom on the first floor. The message Sirius had given her was still fresh in her mind: 'Don't give up'. Obviously, both Harry's parents had managed to see that under their son's obviously attraction for Cho Chang, he really had feelings for his best friend's little sister. She had thought also on how she could manage to make Harry show his feelings towards her, although she had seen a hint of interest when he hugged her after discovering Sirius was alive.

Her train of thoughts was interrupted when someone knocked on the door.

"Come in," she said.

She was surprised to see it was Harry who had knocked.

"May I talk with you, Gin?"

"Of course, Harry. Sit down," she answered, pointing at the bed beside hers. Harry did as he was told and faced her. This made Ginny feel a bit nervous.

"What do you want to talk about, Harry?"

"Well, I don't know where to start this," he said, scratching the back of his head. "We have known each other since five years ago, when I asked your mother about how to enter into Platform 9 3/4. We didn't talk a lot, but I know you wanted to see me after you knew who I was."

"In your first year, you had to go through everything with that damn diary of Riddle's and everything he made you do with that basilisk. I could have tried to do something, but because we were trying to discover the possible culprit among Slytherins we did not pay you real attention. In the end I saved you, and for that I'm grateful."

"For two years we didn't talk much, but in my fifth year you started to be more than Ron's sister: you became one of my best friends, you supported me through everything and in the end you went with me to the Department of Mysteries to try to help Sirius."

"But for the last few weeks I've been thinking of you very often when I was not mourning about Sirius or anything like that, and last week I... kind of... started to develop some feelings towards you, or more likely I started to notice them, I'm not sure."

"I know that years ago you had a crush on me, and that you lost it last year. Now I would like to be more than a friend for you, but I know that you are going out with Dean Thomas, so..."

His talking was suddenly interrupted when Ginny launched herself to kiss him in a very passionate way, putting him under her and clutching her hands in his messy hair. 

For the next minute or so, Harry James Potter could only register two things of his surroundings: that the girl who was kissing him so thoroughly was the beautiful red-haired Ginny Weasley, and that the actual snogging he was getting now was a few thousand times better than the only kiss he had shared with Cho Chang (she was crying a lot while they were kissing). After that first minute of serious snogging, he realised he would need to stop and try to take in some more air. Fortunately, Ginny was in the same situation and separated her lips from his for a moment.

"Sorry, I needed some air to stay alive," she said, giggling.

"Nothing to be sorry about. I was going to ask you to stop for a few seconds before I fainted due to the lack of oxygen," he replied, smiling at her. "Anyway, why are you kissing me if you are with Dean?"

"I only said that to wind Ron up. I am a very good liar, no?"

"Maybe," he said, laughing a bit. "I'm glad it was a lie. Now I will only have to be careful with your brothers."

"Stop thinking that way, Potter, and kiss me again," she commanded, "before I try to do something really desperate to attract your attention."

"Can't have that, huh?"

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Three days later, Harry woke up very early. Today he would see how the Human Toad was punished for her cruelty and also his genealogical tree, as Dumbledore had told him it could be done.

Two days ago, Harry and Sirius, alongside with Ginny (who had surprised everybody the night before saying that Harry and her were now an item), Tonks, Lupin and Kingsley Shacklebolt, went in what Harry had called 'Operation New Age', which made Sirius laugh a lot. They first had gone to Gringotts so that Harry could transform some Wizarding money into pounds. Harry was disguised with a few changes like the colour and length of his hair, the concealment of his scar with a nice charm and the form of his glasses, which could be easily recognised for those who had seen the newspaper when Harry had been on the first page.

Instead of changing his money, the goblin in charge told him about a new invention which could help him with any problem of money he could have: it was an Instant-Money Wallet. It looked like a businessman wallet of leather, but in reality it was tuned to his Gringotts vault (which was only the one with the trust fund his parents had set to pay his studies, from what Sirius had told him) so that anytime he needed money, he would only have to repeat the required amount of money and that money would be in the wallet, no matter if it was Galleons, pounds, dollars... Every coin in the world would be available for him, and it would get discounted automatically from his vault with a very little surcharge. Harry asked for one, the same as Sirius, and soon they were out in the Muggle world, prepared to buy everything Harry would need.

By the end of the day, Harry was busy carrying all the bags with the clothes he had bought. Both Ginny and Sirius had chosen personally which clothes he should try, and then the other three would make opinions about how it suited Harry. He now had enough clothes to fill his wardrobe and throw all his older ones to the rubbish (although he had planned to send them back to the Dursleys with a little funny note).

Harry got out of his bed and looked at his watch: 8:00 am. He decided to have a look at the kitchen and, if someone was having breakfast at the time, he would stay there and change afterwards.

When he opened the door, he was surprised that nearly everybody in the house was there: only Ron and Sirius had not arrived yet.

"Good morning, Harry! What do you want for breakfast?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"Some toast, please." He sat down and joined the main conversation which was, naturally, the trial that would start in a few hours.

"I'm sure that Umbridge will end up in prison," Neville was saying. "It'll be impossible for her to reject the accusations with the proofs of all the things she did last year."

"I know that," Hermione replied, "but I'd bet anything that Fudge is going to do everything in his power to free her."

"I doubt it. His popularity has been going down since he declared that Voldemort was alive and people realised that he had been lying to everybody for a year. An attempt of freeing her after all she has done, which is public knowledge, would get him sacked in a heartbeat. Anyway, a vote of No Confidence has been set for next week, and I am sure that it'll go against him," Mr. Weasley declared.

"How does that No Confidence Vote works, Mr. Weasley?" Harry asked.

The question was thought over very carefully before answered.

"It's not very easy to do it. First, the Wizengamot votes if they should start a process against him. Since Fudge was voting, he thinks that he still has an opportunity of staying as Minister, which I doubt. The voting was asked by Amelia Bones, because Dumbledore, in his position of Chief of the Wizengamot, could not ask for it, and probably it would have been seen as a revenge act."

"Then, the Magical Heads meet at the Ministry and vote 'aye' or 'no' to the vote of No Confidence, that's the part which has been set next week. Finally, if the majority of votes are 'aye', Fudge will be sacked, an Interim Minister is set and there will be elections to choose a new Minister of Magic, in which Fudge won't be able to present."

"Who are the Magical Heads?" Hermione asked.

"I'm sure you won't like this, Hermione, but they are the heads of every pure-blood family in Great Britain. I would like to change that, so that Muggle-borns could have representation into the Government, but in my position it's very difficult to do it."

"Why don't you stand for Minister, Arthur?" This one was Sirius, who had just entered the kitchen. Mr. Weasley laughed.

"Because I'm not well known enough to be chosen as Minister. I've heard that Amelia Bones is going to stand for it, and I can tell you that she would be a great Minister."

"Who would be a great Minister? Not Fudge, I'm sure," Ron said while opening the door.

"Amelia Bones, Ron," Hermione told him with a smile.

"OK, now that everybody is here, I will tell you everything about the trial," Mr. Weasley said. "It's going to start at ten o'clock at court ten, I'm sure you remember it, Harry. We know there will be lots of journalists at the entrance, because they are sure that Harry and Dumbledore are going to be there, so we are going to use a Portkey to get into the VIP Apparition Point. Harry, you are the most important witness, because you were the one who had been punished the worst through the year, but among the other witnesses there will be enough proofs for her conviction."

"Everybody should start to get prepared. The Portkey Dumbledore made will take us to the Ministry at nine thirty, and I want everybody to wear good clothes. A good impression will help you."

Harry, who had just finished his breakfast, nodded and went upstairs. After a quick shower, he dressed with his best shirt and his first-to-be-used black trousers. He came back to the kitchen and saw he had beaten everybody. Then he waited patiently for the others. Since his friends would probably be called as witnesses, the group was going to be very big: Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, Luna and their respective parents and guardians, Lupin and Tonks. Nearly every adult except Sirius, Hermione's parents and Luna's father would go there by Apparition, everybody else would take the Portkey, which on this occasion was a rather big table which allowed everybody to grab it easily. At nine thirty exactly, Harry felt the well known hook on his navel that transported him into the whirl of colours.

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"Disciplinary hearing of the seventeenth of June," Dumbledore said in a calm but slightly angry voice, "into offences committed under the Underage Protection Law, the Law Against Proscribed Dark Objects and the Habeas Corpus Law by Dolores Jane Umbridge, resident in number 13, Floral Street, London."

It had started. The full court of the Wizengamot had been summoned to the trial. Umbridge, who nearly a year before had done her best to transform the charges over Harry into a sentence when he had gone to the trial, now was sitting on the magic chair whose chains tied her to it. She obviously had been a few days in prison, because Harry could tell she had been under the influence of the Dementors.

"Interrogators: Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Chief of the Wizengamot; Cornelius Oswald Fudge, Minister for Magic; Amelia Susan Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Court Scribes: Percival Ignatius Weasley and Penelope Irma Clearwater.

"Witnesses for the prosecution: Hermione Jane Granger, Rubeus Hagrid, Lee Francis Jordan, Neville Frank Longbottom, Luna Lise Lovegood, Minerva McGonagall, Harry James Potter, Frederick Fabian Weasley, George Gideon Weasley, Ginevra Molly Weasley and Ronald Bilius Weasley.

"The charges are these: illegal sending of Dementors against a minor; use of a dark object on various students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry; abuse of teaching position on that said school; attempt of illegal arrest; attempt of murder; threat of using an Unforgivable curse on a minor, and endanger of a minor's life.

"Under the request of this court, the defendant will be administered Veritaserum to avoid any possibility of lying. Auror Shacklebolt has agreed to do it."

Kingsley went towards Umbridge and forced her to drink three drops of the colour-less potion that made the drinker say the truth. When it was clear that the potion was affecting her, Dumbledore initiated the interrogation.

"Are you Dolores Jane Umbridge, resident in number 13, Floral Street, London?"

"Yes."

"Do you remember what happened last year, the second of August?"

"Yes."

"Please, tell us what happened that day."

"I had been discussing the previous day with Minister Fudge around the subject of Harry Potter. He had been pressuring the press for the last month so that they ran Potter's and Dumbledore's name down. He was saying we - the Ministry - should do something so that we could ensure Potter's mouth was shut down forever. I agreed with him, but he said we should wait until the protection around Potter lessened. When I realised that he would not do anything, I decided to work on my own: I sent word to the prison of Azkaban so that they could send two Dementors to number 4, Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey. I erased every record of it so that nobody would know that I had been the one behind Potter's death and so that Minister Fudge did not know anything."

Fudge's face had paled considerably; after all that Umbridge had just said, he could be imprisoned as well for limitation of freedom of press and even conspiracy in attempt of murder. Among the numerous public, hundreds of people shot death glares at both the Minister and the former Senior Undersecretary for those words that obviously were against the Boy-Who-Lived, one of the main symbols on the fight against Voldemort.

Dumbledore's cold anger was now easily noticeable by Harry and his friends. In spite of it, he continued with the questioning: Umbridge was asked about Harry's trial; all the detentions with Harry, Lee and other students who had faced her; what she had done after the discovery of Dumbledore's Army; how she had set all those stupid rules through her position of High Inquisitor; how she had tried to arrest Hagrid only because he was loyal to Dumbledore and when she ordered the aggressive use of five Stunners over Professor McGonagall; and, in the end, how she had caught Harry when he was trying to contact Sirius before the Department of Mysteries and how she had threatened to use the Cruciatus Curse to try and coax the information out of him.

Then it was the turn of the witnesses: Hermione talked about the classes of Defence Against the Dark Arts, in which Umbridge did not let anybody do proper studying, and when Umbridge sent Harry and her into the Forbidden Forest without protection; Lee about when Umbridge made him write lines with a Blood Quill only because he had cracked a joke about one of the Educational Decrees Fudge had passed the year before; Ron, Ginny, Neville and Luna talked about what happened when they had supported Harry in everything he did, including the DA; McGonagall and Hagrid told their version of what had happened the day of the Astronomy O.W.L. exam, in which Umbridge had tried to arrest him and nearly killed her; in the end, Harry told the court about all the sessions with her, showing them the scars that the Blood Quill had marked forever on his hand after so many times of using it.

When Harry, who was the last witness of the session (Umbridge had not managed to find someone who could refute the accusations), Dumbledore stood up.

"It is clear that Madame Umbridge has become a danger for our society, especially for our children. I ask you if this witch deserves the sentence of fifty years in Azkaban I think should be given to her. Those in favour of the sentence?"

Only two people did not raise their hands: Fudge and another wizard Harry didn't know, but he was sure that it was one of those who had supported Fudge against Dumbledore.

"Very well. The sentence is approved by majority. Aurors, take the defendant to prison. This meeting is adjourned."

The public started to clap their hands while Umbridge, who looked defeated, was directed by the Aurors out of the courtroom.

Soon, the courtroom was emptied of people, but Harry, his friends and Dumbledore had remained in it.

"Well done, everybody. Justice has been made in the end."

"Thanks, Professor," everybody replied.

"Very well. Harry, are you prepared for the experiment?"

"Yes, Professor."

"Take this Portkey, then. It will take you to Hogwarts. Professor McGonagall will take you to the place where we will hold the experiment."

Watching his friends' astonished faces, Harry said: "Don't worry, I'll explain everything when I come back, I promise." Then he touched the feather and, for the second time in the day, he went through the well-known twirl of colours.

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Soon, he landed in the Headmaster's office in Hogwarts. Fortunately, this time he didn't fall to the floor, but he nearly lost his balance. Harry grinned to himself for his success.

Like if his presence had triggered something, Professor McGonagall entered the office.

"Good morning, Mr. Potter," said the stern witch.

"Good morning, Professor."

"Please, follow me. Professor Flitwick is preparing everything in the Room of Requirement."

Both people went to the seventh floor and, in front of the famous Barnabas the Barmy tapestry, a wooden door could be seen. Professor McGonagall opened the door and entered the room, and Harry followed her.

What he saw inside surprised him: the Room of Requirement had one side covered with a polished wooden wall with four sticks. In the middle of the room, a table had been set with a piece of parchment, a needle and a small vial which seemed to be filled with a liquid. Professor Flitwick was next to the table, beaming at the young man.

"Good morning, Mr. Potter," he said in his high-pitched voice. "When Professor Dumbledore arrives, we will be able to start with the ritual."

Harry nodded and, while they waited for Dumbledore, Flitwick explained to Harry what he had to do. Soon, Dumbledore opened the door and said, "Good morning, everyone. Do you know about the ritual, Harry?"

"Yes."

"Okay, let's start with this."

Harry, who was near the table, took the needle and pricked his left forefinger with it while chanting:

"Ancestors of mine, reveal yourselves. Do not remain hidden, because I want to know you. I am your descendant, Harry James Potter, and I need your knowledge to reach my goal."

From the prick, drops of blood started to form, and when the third one had fallen on the parchment, Harry removed his finger from the parchment and Flitwick dropped the liquid over it.

"Very well. In one minute, we will have to drain the parchment and then Professor McGonagall will hang it on the wall."

"How long will it be like that?"

"I am sorry, Mr. Potter, but I have only been once in one of these rituals, and I don't remember the details clearly. I only remember that each generation was written in the parchment every thirty seconds or so."

Harry nodded to confirm he understood the explanation and begged for some seats for everybody. Four armchairs appeared from the nothing and, when Professor McGonagall enlarged the parchment and hung it on the wall, an invisible hand started to write on the centre of it one name in red ink: Harry James Potter. Then, the same invisible hand wrote two other names in red ink too, one on the left (James Michael Potter) and the other on the right (Lily Marie Evans), which told Harry that his ancestors from his father's side would be on the left, and the ancestors from his mother's side would be on the right.

Approximately half an hour after, there was still some writing to do on the parchment. Harry was surprised at how long it was taking for the charm to be finished, when a bell rang. Dumbledore went to the parchment and started to count how many generations were written in the genealogical tree. When he finished, he said, visibly astonished and delighted, "Seventy. This genealogical tree has exactly seventy generations. This shows you are one of the most powerful wizard in the world, if not the best."

"Why?"

"Among the few people who know of this charm, there is one detail that even fewer people know: the more powerful a wizard is, the more generations will appear in the tree. I myself did this when I was more or less your age, and it had sixty-five generations."

That shocked Harry from his messy hair to his toes: could that mean that he was destined to be even more powerful than Albus Dumbledore, the most powerful wizard he had ever known in his life?

"Not that I'm not surprised," Dumbledore said, smiling fondly at the young man. "I always knew that James' and Lily's son would be very powerful, furthermore being the one who is destined to kill Voldemort."

"Well, I am surprised," Harry, admitted

"Let's not think on that, Albus," Professor McGonagall said, hiding her surprise. "My opinion is that we should start to have a look at the tree, to see which powers Mr. Potter has?"

"I'd rather look at Harry's name in the last place, dear Minerva," Dumbledore replied with a twinkle in his eyes. "I'd bet all my lemon drops that some of Harry's ancestors are very important, both magically and among Muggles, and I would like to have a look. Would you be kind to shrink it and put it on this table?

"Yes, Albus," she said, intrigued. When she did as he had asked, Dumbledore pulled out of his pocket some kind of magnifying glass which had a roll of parchment attached to it.

"This will be very useful for us. It's called a 'factfinder', and it should help a lot in our research.

"How does it work, Professor?" Harry asked, curiously.

"Well, the first thing we should do is to put it on the table, and then we have to say what we want to look for. It is magically connected to what Muggles would call a 'database', and if we ask correctly, it should show it and all the information about them.

"OK. Why don't we start easy?" Harry said. "I want to know about my parents."

Automatically, the factfinder started to move over the parchment, and soon two names were shown

_James Michael Potter (1960-1981 AD) _

_Lily Marie Evans (1959-1981 AD) _

But it didn't say more

"Why is my parents' names written in red?"

"It's a colour code," Dumbledore explained. "Red for wizards, green for Squibs, blue for Muggles. Now is when the tricky thing starts. Pull out your wand, Harry, and put it on the names of your parents. You are the only one who can make the information appear.

Harry did as he was told, and when he put his wand over his father's name, Lily's name disappeared and a list started to unroll below James' name.

_James Michael Potter (1960-1981 AD) _

_Son of: Charlus Vincent Potter and Dorea Columba Black _

_Married with: Lily Marie Evans _

_Father of: Harry James Potter _

_Patronus: Lion _

_Animagus: Stag _

_Magical abilities: Occlumency / Legilimency, Wandless / Wordless Magic _

_Elemental Magic: Fire _

Harry whistled with admiration.

"Obviously Dad was rather powerful.

"Indeed he was. The ability of controlling Elemental Magic can only be used by really magically strong people. If you want to see your mother's abilities, say 'back' and do the same as with your father."

"Back," Harry said, and the list below Harry's father name was replaced by his mother's name. He then 'clicked' on it (he thought it was like in a computer; although he had not used one ever, he had seen his uncle teaching Dudley how to use one) and the list with Lily's powers appeared

_Lily Marie Evans (1959-1981 AD) _

_Daughter of: John Anthony Evans and Marie Noelle Glissant _

_Married with: James Michael Potter _

_Mother of: Harry James Potter _

_Patronus: Vixen _

_Animagus: Doe _

_Magical Abilities: Spell Crafting, Wandless / Wordless Magic _

_Elemental Magic: Air _

Harry smiled

"Well done, Harry. Would you let me try one thing?" McGonagall said.

"Yes, Professor."

"People who have been important in Muggle society.

Harry looked at her, slightly surprised, but didn't say anything. Soon, the parchment had a few names, nearly all of them unknown to him.

_Gaius Iulius Caesar (100-44 BC) _

_Carolus Magnus (742-814 AD) _

_Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (1043-1099 AD) _

_William Wallace (1272-1305 AD) _

All the names were blue-coloured, which meant they were Muggles. Harry pointed at the first name of the list.

"This one is Julius Caesar, no?

"Yes, Harry. What do you know about him?"

"Not a lot, really. I was interested in history when I was at primary school, but when I got better marks than Dudley on it the Dursleys punished me because they said I had cheated on the exam. Since then, I didn't work hard.

"The nerve of those people," McGonagall said, obviously angry.

"I know he was the one who led the conquest of Britain in 55 BC and he was killed by Brutus, but apart from that I don't remember much. Who are the other people?

"Since they are your ancestors, I'll let you know the best known things about them."

"Carolus Magnus is the French name for Charles the Great. He was the Franks Monarch and in the year 800 he was proclaimed Emperor by the Pope. He controlled a big area formed by north-east Spain, France, Swiss and parts of Germany and Italy.

"Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar is a very famous Spanish warrior leader. He was one of the key people who managed to recover Spain from the hands of the Muslims in what it is called the Reconquist. He died as Valencia's Lord after battling since he was a bit older than you."

"And William Wallace is the one you should be more familial with: he is well known as one of the most adamant people in the attempts of granting independence to Scotland. I'm sure Professor McGonagall will be able to say more about him, since she is from Scotland too," Dumbledore concluded. McGonagall only scowled at him

"I would like now to make a try on something I've been suspecting since a few years ago. May I?" Dumbledore said.

"Why not?" Harry asked

The Headmaster then whispered something Harry didn't manage to pick up, but the factfinder started to look for whatever he had asked. Thirty seconds later, a few names were written on the parchment, but Harry was looking at Dumbledore to ask him what he had looked for. The look of surprise on the older man's face made him look at the parchment. And there were four names, written with red ink, that Harry would have never thought that could appear in something like his own Genealogical Tree:

_Godric Gryffindor (970-1070 AD) _

_Helga Hufflepuff (969-1060 AD) _

_Rowena Ravenclaw (965-1066 AD) _

_Salazar Slytherin (960-1040 AD) _

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What do you think of this, huh? I know it is very strange to make Harry as the descendant of the Four Founders of Hogwarts, but it will be important for the story. In the future, this will help Harry and his friends in a important but indirect way. Now, you'll just have to wait for chapter 7, "Long Lost Knowledge"!

If someone feels hurt with my chose for the names from all the characters (second names on nearly everybody, Harry's grandparents names and who I have chosen among famous Muggles to be Harry's ancestors) please tell me.


	7. Long Lost Knowledge

Chapter 7

Long Lost Knowledge

_The Headmaster then whispered something Harry didn't manage to pick up, but the fact finder started to look for whatever he had asked. Thirty seconds later, a few names were written on the parchment, but Harry was looking at Dumbledore to ask him what he had looked for. The look of surprise on the older man's face made him look at the parchment. And there were four names, written with red ink, that Harry would have never thought they would appear in something like his own Genealogical Tree: _

_Godric Gryffindor (970-1070 AD) _

_Helga Hufflepuff (969-1060 AD) _

_Rowena Ravenclaw (965-1066 AD) _

_Salazar Slytherin (960-1040 AD )  
_

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"This... this is... this must be..." Harry babbled, shocked.

"There is nothing wrong with it, Harry. This charm is never wrong. This is the true proof that you are, indeed, the heir of the Four Founders of Hogwarts," Dumbledore declared, solemnly.

"Albus, I think we should see what the fact finder says about Harry. It could tell us a lot of things," McGonagall said.

Dumbledore nodded and said, "Harry James Potter."

In a matter of seconds, Harry's name was shown in red ink.

"Please, Harry, you have to do it," Dumbledore whispered to the young man.

A bit scared on what his powers would be, Harry clicked on his name and a large list appeared.

_Harry James Potter (1980-...) _

_Son of: James Michael Potter and Lily Marie Evans _

_Patronus: Stag _

_Animagus: Badger, Lion, Phoenix, Raven, Snake _

_Magical Abilities: Metamorphmage, Mindspeech, Occlumency / Legilimency, _

_Parselmage, Spell Crafting, Wandless / Wordless Magic _

_Elemental Magic: Air, Earth, Fire, Water, Unknown, Unknown _

"There is something to start with here," McGonagall said, pointing at the fourth line. "Obviously, this shows clearly that Harry is a descendant from all founders. Just tell me how he could have five Animagus forms, four of which are the symbols of each Hogwarts house, and then the one Animagus form nobody has had since Merlin himself."

Harry remained speechless.

"Then there are a few things that I think you should explain to us, Albus. For example, this 'Parselmage' thing, what is it?"

Dumbledore smiled. "Harry," he said, not answering directly to Professor McGonagall, "do you remember that in your second year, we talked about why did you understood Parseltongue?"

"Yes, Professor," Harry answered.

"Apparently, when Voldemort attacked you, he only woke up your power that you have had since you were born. While you are a natural Parselmouth, you will have to train for using Parselmage, because Parselmage is the use of magic based on Parseltongue."

Harry nodded.

"You should know what Metamorphmage is, so we'll skip that part. Mindspeech is something similar to what Muggles call 'telepathy': you will be able to 'talk' with others through your minds. Spell Crafting is the ability of inventing new spells. Normally, to create a spell you should be trained in lots of things by the Ministry, like Advanced Arithmancy, but having the ability will allow you to do them instinctively."

"Since it is clear you will need some training, I'll find the best people which can help you with all these abilities. I myself will help you with the Occlumency, Legilimency and the Elemental Magic, but for the Parselmage you'll have to do it on your own, because in the world there are only two who are Parselmouths, you and Voldemort, and I've not heard of others."

"I think it is enough for today," concluded Dumbledore, picking up the fact finder, folding the parchment and giving them both to Harry. "I want you to have both things. You should tell your friends about what happened here, at least part of it, so that they understand what you are going to do from tomorrow. Are you planning on telling them about the Prophecy?"

Harry looked directly at Dumbledore's eyes. "I'm not sure if I should do it, sir. I fear that if I tell them, they would leave me, although I would understood it..."

"Don't think that way, Harry," Dumbledore interrupted, clutching Harry's shoulders with his hands. "If your friends didn't leave when you tried to remove the Philosopher's Stone from Quirrell's hands, if they didn't leave you when everybody thought you were the one who was attacking them in second year, if they didn't leave you when you went to the Shrieking Shack and faced Sirius Black, if they didn't leave you while everybody thought you were lying when saying Voldemort had come back, do you really think they will do it when you tell them about the Prophecy? And could you imagine what would happen if you didn't tell them? When you reach the final battle against Voldemort, they are going to help you, but without that fundamental piece of information, there is a possibility that they die while they try to kill Voldemort. And don't try to leave them aside. If you do that, not only you will lose your friends, but they will do their best at the war and they will surely die. Be there with them. Tell them everything. Help them to train until all your friends and you work as a well-lubricated machine which will be able to overcome every problem you have in your fight."

The young man was dumbstruck at the choice of words Professor Dumbledore had used. He couldn't understand why he was saying it (he knew that his friends were in great danger only because they were his friends) but he had to recognise that the Headmaster was right. At least, he should give his friends an opportunity of knowing what was going to happen to him in the future. Dumbledore saw that in his eyes, and said, "Very well. I'll take you to my office and you will travel by Floo to Grimmauld Place."

Both Dumbledore and Harry left the room, while McGonagall and Flitwick remained to get everything they had brought for the ritual.

"What do you think of Harry, Filius?" McGonagall asked.

"If anybody is able to learn every little thing that parchment showed, it'll be him," Flitwick answered.

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When Harry arrived to Sirius' house, it was nearly lunchtime, so everybody was in the kitchen, either helping Mrs. Weasley in the kitchen or waiting for him. Like the first day he had used the Floo to travel to Diagon Alley, he fell to the floor soundly, but at least he managed to keep his glasses safe from the impact.

"Harry!" Ginny exclaimed, helping him to stand up and brush the ashes away. "How was your experiment with Dumbledore?"

Harry considered what he would say to her for a few seconds.

"I'd rather wait until we have finished with lunch. There has been too much information for my mind to process it at once. I'll tell you later, I promise."

"OK, Harry," she said, giving him a quick peck on his lips. "Just sit down at the table, we are eating in a few minutes."

"Thanks, Gin," he replied, smiling at his girlfriend.

The meal was as a usual Weasley meal, with everybody chatting lively about Umbridge's trial, celebrating that she was now in prison. The twins had brought a few of their new inventions to show them to everybody (they made Harry promise to go to Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, their shop at Diagon Alley, to see the prototypes they couldn't take out of the shop yet) and, by the time they had finished the desserts, all the teenagers were looking at Harry like asking him what he had done.

After helping Mrs. Weasley to tidy up the kitchen, Harry asked his friends to follow him to the girls' bedroom, which was the most spacious one, so that nobody would try to pry on what were they doing there.

"OK, Harry, will you tell us what happened?" Hermione asked, anxiously. She and Ron had sat on her bed, Harry and Ginny on the latter's bed and Neville and Luna on the remaining one.

"Yes, I'll do it. I'll have to start from the beginning, and I'd like you to keep any question for the end, because it is a very long story and I wouldn't like to stop. Do you understand that?"

"Yes," the other five said all together. Harry smiled at them, and retold them what Dumbledore had told him last month, after Sirius' 'death'.

"Seventeen years ago, in the middle of a cold winter, Professor Dumbledore met at the Hog's Head with someone who was posting for the Divination Professor post. She was the descendant of a great Seer, but she herself wasn't a good one. He said she seemed not to have intelligence, and when he was leaving the room, she started to say talk in a harsh voice: 'The one born with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies...'."

Hermione and Neville were about to interrupt him, but Harry raised his hand to stop them from talking.

"Please, stay quiet. It'll be easier for me to tell you everything if you don't stop me."

"Well, apparently one Death Eater had been spying on Dumbledore and the applicant, and was hearing the Prophecy, but he was kicked out of the tavern before he heard the part about 'mark him as his equal'. Naturally, he ran to Voldemort and told him what he had heard. There was a problem for him: two wizards had been born 'as the seventh month dies'. One of them was me, the other one was Neville," he said, looking at his friend.

Everybody looked at Neville, who seemed to be dumbstruck at this revelation.

"Since he heard about the Prophecy, he started to plot about what he should do with that information. He didn't know he would mark the one he attacked as his equal, so he searched for both of us. As you know, Pettigrew was the one who served my parents to him on a silver platter by telling him where they were hiding. But he thought I was more dangerous than Neville because I was a half-blood, like himself, so he went for me and my parents."

"Then, that Halloween night, he arrived at our house, ready to kill all of us. My father fought him so that my mother could pick me and run away from the house. When she arrived at my room, she already knew that my dad was dead," at this point, Harry was fighting hard so that he wouldn't start to cry, "and she just stayed there, because if what everybody has told me is right, she wouldn't have been able to face a future without him."

"Voldemort came to my room, and he ordered my mother to step away. She didn't obey, so he killed her. That activated the protection that saved me. It is not easy to explain it, but it seems that if you love someone and you die while protecting that someone, a shield is set on the person to protect him from any big harm. In the end, Voldemort used the Avada Kedavra on me, but it rebounded, leaving me with this," he said, pointing at his scar, "and he had to leave, nearly dead."

"Now is where the known part starts. For the last year or so, I was dreaming of a door I had not seen in my whole life. That was because during the time I was sleeping, Voldemort was thinking on it, and somehow it transferred to my dreams. I realised it was the door of the Department of Mysteries in one of my Occlumency lessons with Snape, because I had seen it when I was going to my trial."

"After that, it becomes the Department of Mysteries event after the History of Magic O.W.L. exam. We went to the Hall of Prophecies, found the one Voldemort wanted, fought the Death Eaters, Sirius fell through the Veil... and after duelling with Voldemort, Dumbledore sent me to his office. There, he told me about the Prophecy, and his interpretation of it: in the end, it'll be me or Voldemort, and apparently 'the power the Dark Lord knows not' is love, which was what saved me when Voldemort possessed me while Dumbledore and him were duelling. Do you understand it?"

Harry stopped to look at his friends. Hermione seemed to be on the verge of tears and on the point of hugging him like every time she was upset about him, Ron was agape, Neville's face was white, and Luna seemed to be very concentrated on Harry's words. He feared to look at Ginny, because he didn't know what her reaction would be.

"Now, with this morning. The 'experiment' Dumbledore was talking about was to discover my genealogical tree. We used an ancient charm, and... well, you'll be the judges of it."

He pulled the parchment in which all his ancestors' names were written, and unfolded it. Hermione launched herself over it, but she was disappointed because the handwriting was incredibly tiny.

"How can you read this? It's impossible," Ron said, after looking at the parchment.

"That was because its size would be gigantic if the handwriting were big enough for us to read," Harry replied, half-laughing. "That's why I have this with me," he continued, showing them the fact finder. "Just let's put it on one of the beds, and I'll use this to show you the important things in here."

Hermione and Ron stood up and Harry put the tree on her bed. Then, he put the fact finder over it, and said: "Important people among Muggles."

In a matter of seconds, the famous Muggles' names were shown in blue ink:

_Gaius Iulius Caesar (100-44 BC) _

_Carolus Magnus (742-814 AD) _

_Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (1043-1099 AD) _

_William Wallace (1272-1305 AD) _

"Do you recognise them?" Harry asked. Hermione was the first to talk:

"You are very well related, Harry. All these guys are very well known in the Muggle world."

"Who are they?" Ron asked, confused.

"The first one is Julius Caesar, a Roman soldier who managed to be Rome's dictator thanks to his knowledge of strategy and of the army he was leading. Carolus Magnus is better known as Charles the Great, he was a emperor who managed to conquer nearly all Western and Centre Europe. Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar was a warrior who died as Valencia's Christian lord in 1099, when nearly all Spain was under the control of Muslims. William Wallace is the nearest to us; he was a Scottish who did his best to maintain the independency of Scotland."

"OK."

"Now, I'll show you the information about me. Harry James Potter."

As that morning, Harry's name appeared very soon, replacing the Muggles' names. Harry clicked on it, and the list was again unrolled.

_Harry James Potter (1980-...) _

_Son of: James Michael Potter and Lily Marie Evans _

_Patronus: Stag _

_Animagus: Badger, Lion, Phoenix, Raven, Snake _

_Magical Abilities: Metamorphmage, Mindspeech, Occlumency / Legilimency, _

_Parselmage, Spell Crafting, Wandless / Wordless Magic _

_Elemental Magic: Air, Earth, Fire, Water, Unknown, Unknown _

Both Ron and Neville whistled when they finished reading the information about Harry. Hermione was clearly surprised, Luna raised her eyebrow and Ginny squeezed Harry's hand, to remind him she was still there.

"This doesn't mean I'm leaving you. You are stuck with me now, and you will need something better to get rid of me," she whispered in his ear, in a half-sad, half-happy tone.

Harry turned his head and kissed her fully on her lips. He didn't care that her brother was with them, he needed to show her his feelings had not changed.

"Hey, Potter, stop kissing my sister, I finished lunch just a few minutes ago."

Everybody else laughed at Ron's statement, and Ginny and Harry separated their lips reluctantly.

"Harry," Luna started to say, like she had realised something important, "how is it possible that you have five Animagus forms? It is supposed that a wizard only can have one."

"It's true!" Hermione said. "Did Dumbledore tell you why?"

Harry shrugged. "No. He never said anything about the fact that I have so many Animagus forms. He only said something about the magical abilities I supposedly have, but McGonagall mentioned something strange about what my Animagus were."

"Which ones?" Ginny asked.

"I'll let you five discover that one," Harry said, smiling. "The first one who guesses will get a prize!"

The five teenagers started to look at the list with a bit of anxiety, while Harry started to think about what more should he tell his friends. His train of thoughts was stopped when Ginny said aloud, "I know it!"

"Very well, Ginny. Will you share your piece of information with the others?" Harry asked, amused.

"If you don't count the phoenix, your Animagus forms are the Hogwarts' houses' animals. Badger stands for Hufflepuff, lion for Gryffindor, raven for Ravenclaw and snake for Slytherin."

"Correct in one, Gin." Then he snogged her again, pulling his arms around Ginny's waist and pulling her over him. It went for one minute until Neville opened his mouth:

"Hey, go get a room!"

"Neville, don't give them ideas! I'd bet it would be worse if they were alone!" Ron said, shuddering at the thought.

Again, Harry and Ginny had to stop their kissing so that the meeting could go forward.

"Harry," Luna said in her dreamy voice, "what if Ginny had not been the one to guess it?"

"I would have thought of something. Are you jealous of Ginny?" he asked, smiling at his friend.

"No, there is another person on which I have set my gaze."

"I expect that person realises how lucky would he be if he realised your interest," Neville said, with a twinge of something that Harry thought was, if he wasn't mistaken, jealousy.

"Oh, I'm sure he will," Luna said, smiling and looking unnoticed at Neville.

Harry was reminded of the way Ron and Hermione behaved anytime Hermione mentioned Krum or any other guy she could be interested in, and smiled at the thought that they weren't dancing around the issue anymore.

"Any more questions?"

"Yeah, this Spell Crafting thing in here," Ron said.

"Normally, spells are made by the Department of Experimental Charms at the Ministry, and you need to study a lot just to be there, Arithmancy, History, Potions... but from what I've heard, if someone is born as a Spell Crafter, that person is able to make spells on his own," Hermione said.

"You would be a great Ministry Spell Crafter, with that mind of yours," Ron told her, smiling.

Hermione smiled at him, and kissed him soundly on his lips.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

"And you are a Metamorphmagus too!" Ginny said, excited. "Haven't you ever had an incident of that kind?"

"Yes. When I was young, my aunt cut nearly all my hair, and overnight it went back to its normal situation. Since then, I've never needed a haircut."

"Mmmm. I wonder how you would look like if you changed your hair colour," she said, with a mischievous smile.

"I can give it a shot. I remember what Tonks said she did to change herself, so..."

Harry closed his eyes and imagined his hair would turn brown and shoulder-length. He felt his hair growing up slowly, and when it was touching his shoulders, he opened his eyes. He noticed that now his hair had the same colour as Hermione's, but a few shades darker than hers.

"Wow, Harry. That's nice, but I think brown doesn't suit you," Luna said, matter-of-factly. She took a mirror from her trunk and put it in front of Harry. He saw that the brown hair made his face a bit paler than usual.

"I'll try another one," Harry said with a wicked smile, and closed his eyes again. Soon, his hair was exactly like Ron's, and his face had a few freckles.

"Cool! You could pass for another Weasley brother. Why don't we go downstairs? I'd bet that would give a little fright to Dad and Mum," Ginny said, smiling.

"Ginny! I don't think that would be a nice thing to do. What if your mother has a heart attack?"

In that moment, someone knocked on the door and opened the door.

"Harry, Dumbledore is..." Mrs. Weasley started to say, but she stopped when she realised that apparently, Harry wasn't there. Instead of Harry, a red-haired boy with freckles and glasses was standing with her daughter.

"Do you know where Harry is? And who are you, by the way?" Mrs. Weasley said, slightly alarmed.

All the teenagers started to laugh uproariously, while Mrs. Weasley stood confused next to the door.

"Hello, Harry," Professor Dumbledore said, amused. "It seems that you have mastered your Metamorphmagus ability even before I found you a professor who could teach you how to use it."

"Yes," Harry replied, still laughing. He concentrated a bit, and soon he recovered his usual messy black hair and his freckles-free skin. His beam was contagious, and soon Mrs. Weasley lost her slightly angry face and smiled, too.

"Harry," Dumbledore started, "I'd like you to come with me downstairs. There are a few things we have to discuss about your studies. And don't forget the tree, you'll have to show it to your godfather so that he knows what you are going to do."

"Sure." Harry took both the parchment and the fact finder (which went blank when separated from the genealogical tree) and followed the Headmaster downstairs.

"Well, Ginny," Ron said, in a teasing tone, "it seems that you have one of the most powerful wizards eating in your hand. What do you say?"

"That I'll have him eating in other parts of my body in a heartbeat," she answered mischievously, leaving Ron with a blush and the others laughing at Ron's discomfort.

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Harry was arriving at the kitchen's door when he thought he could give Sirius a good scare by using his Metamorphmage ability: he remembered from the photographs he had which colour his father's eyes were, so he concentrated and his emerald green eyes were replaced by chestnut-brown eyes. Smiling, he entered the kitchen and said, "Hi, Sirius!"

Sirius looked at his godson. Soon, he realised there was something strange with Harry, because the look on his face was different than the usual one Harry had. He looked him directly into his eyes, and he was shocked to see that those weren't Harry's eyes, but his best friend's.

"James? Is it you?" Sirius said, surprised.

The young man burst out laughing when he heard him, and could not stop with the laughter until a few minutes later.

"Nope." The chestnut-brown was replaced by emerald green, and Sirius' jaw fell.

"Damn, Harry! Don't give me a fright again!"

"Sorry, Sirius," Harry said, still laughing, "couldn't avoid the temptation."

Dumbledore chuckled at the situation.

"As you have just seen, Sirius, your godson has just managed to learn how to use one of his powers."

"Metamorphmagus, huh? Tonks will be delighted to have a fellow."

"Indeed." The twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes revealed his joy. "We have asked you to be here because I think you should know about Harry's recently discovered powers, and I'd like you to give your opinion about them."

They went again by the process of unfolding the genealogical tree and using the fact finder to show Sirius the information about his godson. He whistled when he saw the Animagus forms.

"Must be powerful, ain't you, kiddo?" Sirius said, smiling deeply. "I feel a bit of envy, since I'm stuck with Padfoot's form, but this is so cool! I'd bet the lion could give Remus a run for his money."

"I'm sure he would like to see it," Harry replied.

"Very well, Sirius, I would like to know if you want Harry to learn about how to use all of these things."

"Of course I want! Whatever he needs to kick Voldemort's arse, it should be done! I could even teach Harry and his friends how to be Animagus, if you let me, Albus."

Dumbledore smiled. "I had thought on Minerva for doing the teaching, but your offer may be what I'm looking for. I'm sure you will be a good teacher for them."

"Thanks, Albus! I think we should start tomorrow. The sooner the best, no?"

"Yes. Harry, I'm of the opinion that I should teach you about Elemental Magic and Wandless and Wordless magic. I'll arrange for an old friend of mine to teach you how to practice Mindspeech, Occlumency and Legilimency, but I'm afraid that for both Parselmage and Spell Crafting you will have to learn on your own. I have books on those subjects, but you are the one who will have to learn how to do that."

"I do have a question. If my mum was a Spell Crafter too, shouldn't there be some kind of notes about what spells she created or how she learnt to create them?"

Sirius thought a bit about it, and asked Dumbledore: "Didn't Lily put her journals into their vault?"

"Now that I remember, one of the last things she told me before going into hiding was asking me to do exactly that thing. I gave those journals a look before doing it, and the charms were very useful."

"So, Albus, do you think Harry could be up to use his Metamorphmage powers in public?" Sirius said, grinning.

"I think the best moment should be in three or four days' time. If Harry has grasped enough things about Occlumency - as I'm sure he will -, there would be no problem of taking both of you out."

"The Occlumency teacher won't be Sna... Professor Snape, no, Professor?" Harry asked, in awe.

Dumbledore chuckled slightly.

"No, Harry. Professor Snape won't be teaching you this time. I know what happened between both of you, and I should have realised that your mutual feelings wouldn't do any good. I asked him to show me his memories of the lessons and, although I have to admit that you were not able to concentrate, I say that his teaching way wasn't good for you: he started using the force used only when the Occlumens has very strong shields. My dear friend will use the best method of teaching, and I'm sure that in one or two weeks your shields will be good enough to stand an attack from Severus."

Harry grinned. He couldn't wait to show Snape how wrong he was when saying he had no abilities on Occlumency.

"For now, I want you to read this book," Dumbledore said, pulling a green-covered one. When he saw the front cover, the strange symbols became clear to him.

"Magical Snaking by Midaus Aulghton," he said in a hissed tone.

"Pardon?" Sirius said, confused. 

Harry smiled. "Sorry, Sirius, it's only that I didn't remember to translate to plain English. The Parseltongue seems to be second nature to me. The cover says Magical Snaking by Midaus Aulghton, but in Parseltongue."

"Very well done, Harry," Dumbledore praised him. "I haven't ever been able to understand what it said, but I've been told that this book has lots of charms which can only be used if talking in Parseltongue."

"The worst about Parseltongue is that it is very slow when compared to English," Harry said, thoughtfully. "Maybe if I managed to use this ability combined with Wordless magic, I would be able to use them as fast as if I was using normal charms..."

Both Dumbledore and Sirius were surprised to hear him talk that way. Finally Sirius started to laugh.

"Oh, my, Pronglet, I think you have been hanging around Hermione too much."

"Pronglet?" Harry asked.

"It was a nickname Remus and I used when you were born. We liked to tease James with it, but I remember you used to laugh a lot when we called you that. But if you don't like it, I'll drop it."

"No, don't drop it, please. It's nice to have may own nickname, especially if it is from you and Remus."

Sirius smiled back. "Of course. From now on, you'll go by the name Pronglet. I'd better tell Remus before he makes a mistake."

Harry laughed heartedly.

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Harry woke up startled. The nightmare of what had happened at the Department of Mysteries last month had come back, centred in Sirius falling through the Veil of Death, followed by all his friends and everybody he knew. Fortunately, this time he did not see everybody blaming him for their deaths, but Harry knew he wouldn't be able to get to sleep soon, so he decided to come downstairs and have a glass of water to calm his thirst.

When he reached the main hall, he noticed that the lights were on. He opened the door and was surprised to see Ginny sitting on one of the chairs around the table.

"Hi, Harry. A nightmare?"

"Yes. And you?"

"The same. Stupid Chamber..."

Harry smiled weakly.

"At least, you didn't see the worst part in there. I had to relive the whole thing at the Ministry, and I'd bet that beats your nightmare as the worst."

Ginny smiled back at him.

"I was going to make some tea. Do you want some?"

"Won't that keep you awake?"

"Not Mum's special tea. It relaxes a lot if you drink it. Mum uses it when someone needs to sleep or is under a little crisis." 

"OK, why not?"

Harry sat down next to Ginny, kissing her first on her cheek and after that on her lips. He had intended to have a slight one, but she took advantage of him and, lacing her hand in his hair, kissed him thoroughly by the method of thrusting her tongue between his lips. That completely overwhelmed Harry's mind and mirrored her movements. When they were reaching the peak, the teapot started to whistle, warning that the tea was ready.

_Damn!_ Harry thought.

Ginny took two cups from the wardrobe and poured some tea in both cups, giving one of them to Harry.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

They stayed there, sipping the tea, in silence, until Ginny said, "Would you like to talk about your nightmare? It might help you to face them and even stop having them."

"I don't want to bother you with..."

"Come on, Harry, you are not bothering me. I am offering my services as your personal 'counsellor'. If you feel it is unfair, we can talk afterwards about my nightmare. I think is a good trade."

Harry considered it for a few seconds. "Well, is not like I do have something to do now. Do you want to go to the library? It'll be more comfy than these chairs."

"Deal!"

Both of them stood up after finishing the tea and went to the library. Harry sat on an armchair, and Ginny sat on his lap. "You go first, Harry," she said, smiling.

"I'll try, but your beautiful body over me is so distracting that I don't know if I'll manage to finish the story."

Ginny grinned. "Just do it."

Harry told her what had happened at the Ministry after the six that had gone there to save Sirius and got separated. He remembered the curse that had hit Hermione on her chest, the kick Neville had received that broke both his nose and his wand (which was his father's) and the battle in which the Order and Dumbledore had saved Harry's and Neville's lives, but they hadn't been able to stop Sirius from crossing the Veil. Then he told her about when he was chasing Bellatrix Lestrange. When he mentioned that he had tried to use the Cruciatus Curse over her, Ginny was a little scared, but she calmed down when she heard it had not worked. Finally, she was told about the duel between Dumbledore and Voldemort, and the possession he had suffered.

"It hurt like hell. The only thing I could think of was asking Dumbledore to kill me, just to end the pain. I thought that then I would be able to see Sirius again and he freed me."

Tears were falling down from Ginny's eyes. She could understand the pain Harry had been through, because she had been under Voldemort's possession during nearly eight months, "thanks" to the old diary Lucius Malfoy had given her when looking for the books for her first year at Hogwarts.

"At least, my desire was granted," he said, half-joking. Ginny smiled weakly at him, behind her tears, and Harry kissed her forehead.

"It's your turn now, Gin," he said softly, hoping that she would do the same he had done. "After all, we made a deal."

Sobbing slightly when remembering the awful events from four years ago, she told him what had happened when she first wrote on the diary. Slowly, she started to drift apart; both the calming tea and her weariness were paying the toll, and she fell asleep over her boyfriend, who found that he could not move himself or her without waking Ginny up, so he decided to sleep in that position, and soon he was out too.

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Have a good time with this chapter! I hope you will wait anxiously now for the next chapter, "Owls and O.W.L.s"!


	8. Owls and OWLs

Chapter 8

Owls and O.W.L.s

"GINEVRA MOLLY WEASLEY! HARRY JAMES POTTER! WAKE UP THIS INSTANT!"

The pleasant dream Harry was having was suddenly interrupted by the raged shout a woman had let out just in front of him. He realised that Ginny was curled over him (she had been woken too) and that the woman who was shouting at them was Ginny's mum, Mrs. Weasley.

Every kind of alarm started to sound into the young man's head, who feared, for the first time in his life, that he would not die at the hands of Lord Voldemort, but at the hands of Mrs. Weasley (aided surely by all six Ginny's brothers). _Damn, damn, damn, damn, what do I do now? This will be my death, no matter what the prophecy says_, he thought.

"Mum! Don't give us such a fright! We were sleeping peacefully until you arrived!" Ginny said, rubbing her eyes.

That moment was chosen by both Ron and Hermione to arrive in the library.

"What's the matter, Mum?" Ron asked.

"The matter is that Mum found us sleeping in an armchair and, obviously, she thought we had been making out or worse!" Ginny replied, angered.

"You.. you haven't, no?" Ron said, his ears starting to redden.

"Of course not!" Harry said. "We just had problems sleeping, we talked for a while and we fell asleep here! We didn't do anything wrong, although your "over-protective brother" senses tell you the contrary!"

Ron didn't know what to say about this and stayed still, which Hermione took advantage of and started pulling him out of the room.

"Ok, I want both of you in the kitchen this very instant," Mrs. Weasley said, the anger in her voice nearly completely replaced by both love and a bit of joy.

"Right-o, Mum," Ginny said. She pulled Harry out of the room, seizing him by his hand.

"Well, at least I've survived the first round of 'Don't go out with our little Ginny' Weasley's rage", Harry said, in a clear attempt of raising up her mood. She punched him playfully on his arm and beamed at him when he hugged her before entering the kitchen.

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Six owls entered through the window of the kitchen: four of them had two big envelopes tied to their legs, and the other two had the envelopes students usually received before a normal year of schooling. Obviously, the former had both the O.W.L.s results for the older teenagers of the group. At the sight of them, Hermione started to tremble nervously, and Ron's efforts to calm her down went unnoticed to her.

All the teenagers untied their post fast and the owls flew out of the kitchen almost instantly. Harry opened the first envelope and read:

_Dear Mr Potter, _

_Here is the list of your O.W.L. results from the schooling year 1995-96. _

_Subject / Theoretical / Practical / Overall _

_Ancient Runes / N/A / N/A / N/A _

_Arithmancy / N/A / N/A / N/A _

_Astronomy / A / A / A _

_Care of Magical Creatures / N/A / O / O _

_Charms / O / E / O _

_Defence Against the Dark Arts / O / O/ O+ _

_Divination / N/A / A / A _

_Herbology / E / E / E _

_History of Magic / P / N/A / P _

_Potions / O / E / O _

_Muggle Studies / N/A / N/A / N/A _

_Transfiguration / E / E / E _

_Results: _

_Passing grades: O (Outstanding), E (Exceeds Expectations), A (Acceptable) _

_Failing grades: P (Poor), D (Dreadful), T (Troll) _

_N/A: non applicable _

_ Mark curve has been changed to count the distraction caused during the exam. _

_ Outstanding Plus (O+) for performing at instructor level _

_For the O.W.L.s, it only counts the Overall results, so you have eight O.W.L.s, out of nine. Special congratulations on the Outstanding Plus, it is the best mark any student has managed to reach in the subject since the establishment of the O.W.L.s, and only two other people have ever managed to get an Outstanding Plus in any subject. _

_Yours sincerely, _

_Griselda Marchbanks _

_Department Head for the Wizarding Examinations Authority. _

Smiling, Harry looked at his friends so that he could know what results they had achieved. However, he was surprised to see Hermione and Ron embraced in a very passionate kiss that had sent everybody in the room into a awkward silence. When they broke up, Ron told her, "Hermione, how could you think you wouldn't pass every exam? You had Outstandings in all your exams, even in Astronomy! To think that you were nervous only because you hadn't translated one word correctly in the Ancient Runes exam! I'm proud of you, you know it."

The girl smiled deeply at him. "Let me have a look at your results, Ron. I'm sure they will be great too."

Harry then looked at Neville, and said, "May I have a look at yours, Neville?"

"Sure! Hand me yours, please," his friend said.

Harry took Neville's letter and read it.

_Dear Mr Longbottom, _

_Here is the list of your O.W.L. results from the schooling year 1995-96. _

_Subject / Theoretical / Practical / Overall _

_Ancient Runes / N/A / N/A / N/A _

_Arithmancy / N/A / N/A / N/A _

_Astronomy / A / P / A _

_Care of Magical Creatures / N/A / E / E _

_Charms / E / A / E _

_Defense Against the Dark Arts / E / O / O _

_Divination / N/A / E / E _

_Herbology / O / O / O _

_History of Magic / A / N/A / A _

_Potions / P / P / P _

_Muggle Studies / N/A / N/A / N/A _

_Transfiguration / E / A / E _

_Results: _

_Passing grades: O (Outstanding), E (Exceeds Expectations), A (Acceptable) _

_Failing grades: P (Poor), D (Dreadful), T (Troll) _

_N/A: non applicable _

_ Mark curve has been changed to count the distraction caused during the exam. _

_For the O.W.L.s, it only counts the Overall results, so you have eight O.W.L.s out of nine. Congratulations for your Herbology exam, you reached the highest marks this year. _

_Yours sincerely, _

_Griselda Marchbanks _

_Department Head for the Wizarding Examinations Authority. _

"Well done, Neville. Even using a wand that was not really yours, you got eight O.W.L.s."

"I have to thank you for the O in DADA. Without your help at the DA, I wouldn't have managed to reach that mark. And you have done it very well too, with the O Plus in Defence Against the Dark Arts."

Everybody looked at Neville when the words "O Plus" went out of his mouth. Hermione took nearly instantly the letter from Neville's hands and her jaw fell when she noticed that, indeed, Harry had been the best DADA O.W.L. examined in recorded history. The letter passed through the hands of everybody, and all of them were astonished. The last one was Ginny, and her embrace for congratulating Harry could rival Mrs. Weasley's hugs.

"Well done, Harry!" she said, proud of him. Harry kissed her lightly on her lips and took Ron's letter, which Hermione had left in front of Ron after reading it.

_Dear Mr Weasley, _

_Here is the list of your O.W.L. results from the schooling year 1995-96. _

_Subject / Theoretical / Practical / Overall _

_Ancient Runes / N/A / N/A / N/A _

_Arithmancy / N/A / N/A / N/A _

_Astronomy / A / A / A _

_Care of Magical Creatures / N/A / E / E _

_Charms / E / E / E _

_Defense Against the Dark Arts / O / O / O _

_Divination / N/A / A / A _

_Herbology / E / E / E _

_History of Magic / P / N/A / P _

_Potions / E / E / E _

_Muggle Studies / N/A / N/A / N/A _

_Transfiguration / E / E / E _

_Results: _

_Passing grades: O (Outstanding), E (Exceeds Expectations), A (Acceptable) _

_Failing grades: P (Poor), D (Dreadful), T (Troll) _

_N/A: non applicable _

_ Mark curve has been changed to count the distraction caused during the exam. _

_For the O.W.L.s, it only counts the Overall results, so you have eight O.W.L.s out of nine. _

_Yours sincerely, _

_Griselda Marchbanks _

_Department Head for the Wizarding Examinations Authority. _

"Neat, mate! Eight out of nine! You have more O.W.L.s than the twins put together!"

"Same as Neville, the O in DADA was thanks to you."

Harry blushed a bit, but smiled in spite of it.

"And I don't need to see your letter, Hermione. Since Ron just voiced your marks, congratulations are in the order of things."

"I managed to get highest marks in Arithmancy, History of Magic and Transfiguration, but it's nothing compared to your O Plus, Harry," she admitted.

"Come on! Everybody at school knows that you are the brightest witch in Britain, and maybe in the whole world, so don't downplay your performance, you have the best average mark at O.W.L.s, as far as I know."

"Shall we get a look at Hogwarts' letters?" suggested Neville.

The six teenagers opened their letters at the same time. From Hermione's envelope fell the red and gold Prefect badge, which made her feel very happy. Harry's letter had the Quidditch Captain badge, and when Ron was about to congratulate him, he extracted from his letter a Prefect badge and a Quidditch Captain badge.

"This is strange! How is it possible that both of us have the Captain badge?"

"Maybe McGonagall wants to have us as co-captains. Anyway, I thought it should be Katie, not me or you."

"She told me last year she'd rather not hold the captaincy, with this being her N.E.W.T.s year and all that," Ginny said.

Harry nodded and extracted the letter - two letters, in fact - and read the first one.

_Dear Mr. Potter, _

_As you may have seen, both your friend Mr. Ronald Weasley and you have been given the Captaincy of Gryffindor's Quidditch team. I couldn't choose which of you would be more suitable for it - Ms. Katie Bell resigned it before the end of last year - and finally I decided both of you would do great. From what I've heard, Mr. Weasley is good at strategy... _

Harry snorted. Good at strategy? Damn, Ron was the _best_ when related to make strategies, independently if it was for chess, for Quidditch or even for a good fight! She should have known it since he was the one who won the Giant Chess game in their first year.

_... and your ability of leadership should be very good for the team. _

_I expect that you work hard this year. I want to keep the Cup in my office another year, and I will not tolerate any lax work. _

_Yours sincerely, _

_Minerva McGonagall, _

_Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft. _

"Ron, did you know that she _heard_ you are good at strategy?"

"I'd bet the Queen didn't tell her we lured her into a trap!"

Ginny and Luna were the only ones among the teenagers who didn't chuckle, since they didn't know what they were talking about.

"You will have to fill us in with that later, boys," Sirius said, amused.

"We'll do it, don't worry," Harry said, smiling. Then he started to read the other letter.

_Dear Mr. Potter, _

_In this letter you will find a list of the subjects you will be able to choose for your N.E.W.T.s and the books for those subjects. Remember that the number of subjects you can choose has to be over four and below eight. _

_Astronomy _

_Care of Magical Creatures _

_Charms _

_Defence Against the Dark Arts _

_Divination _

_Herbology _

_Potions _

_Transfiguration _

_You will also be able to choose among these elective subjects: _

_Advanced Practical Defence _

_Magical Legislation _

_Magical Healing _

_Practical Potions _

_ New subjects _

_Please send a letter stating which subjects you will choose before August 1st. _

_List of books: _

_ Jinxes, Counter-Jinxes and Counter-Counter Jinxes by Terry Tertop (Advanced Practical Defence) _

_ The Bigger Monster Book of Monsters, by Kim Aera (Care of Magical Creatures) _

_ Facing the Darkness by Alastor Moody (Defence Against the Dark Arts) _

_ Compendium of Laws and How to Find Loopholes Where There Aren't by German Cubero (Magical Legislation) _

_ Advanced Potion-Making by Libatius Borage (Potions) _

_ Liquids In Your Help by Mafell Pigara (Practical Potions) _

_ Advanced Transfiguration by Miranda Goshawk (Transfiguration) _

_Yours sincerely, _

_Minerva McGonagall, _

_Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft. _

"Mad-Eye wrote a book?" Neville said, surprised. "I'd bet the first sentence will be 'Constant vigilance'!" Everybody laughed.

"It's not bad, having all these possibilities for choosing," Harry said, passing the letter to Ginny so that she could have a good look. "What are you going to choose?"

"I think I'll go for Care of Magical Creatures, Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Transfiguration and Advanced Practical Defence. Do any of you know what Practical Potions is?" Ron asked.

"It'll be a subject where they teach how to brew potions that are more likely to be used in combat. From what Snape told Dumbledore, he intended to do it as a way of helping our side in this battle. I think that just with having passed the Potions O.W.L. you can enter the subject," Sirius answered

"Well, then I think I'm taking Practical Potions, too. The more we know about how to defend ourselves, the best."

"What are you planning to take, Harry?" Ginny asked, looking proudly at him.

"I'll do the same as Ron, but I'll choose Potions and Magical Healing instead of Herbology and Practical Potions. I'm still going for the Auror position, after all." This earned a few laughs from the adults. "What about you, Hermione, Neville?"

"I'll choose Arithmancy, Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Potions, Transfiguration, Advanced Practical Defence and Magical Legislation. That way I'll be able to understand how Fudge managed to make all those stupid Educational Decrees," said Hermione, looking a bit sad because she could only choose eight subjects.

"I'm going for Care of Magical Creatures, Charms, Defence Against Dark Arts, Herbology, Transfiguration and Advanced Practical Defence. The least I can do is learn how to defend myself better," Neville said

"Very well, boys," Mrs. Weasley said. "I'll talk with Dumbledore so that he can tell us when are we going to be able to go to Diagon Alley to look for your books. Harry, dear, Dumbledore said you would have to go by Floo Network to his office as soon as possible."

"OK, Mrs. Weasley, I'll be back in a few minutes. I have to take a few things from my room." Harry went upstairs, changed his clothes and took his wand, because he knew he would have to use magic in his training. Then he went back to the kitchen and, after kissing Ginny goodbye, he took a pinch of Floo Powder, threw it on the fireplace and stepped in saying "Headmaster's office, Hogwarts!"

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Harry landed precariously on the fireplace of Dumbledore's office, and nearly fell to the floor when he tried to get out.

"Ah, good morning, Harry."

Harry brushed the ashes that stained his glasses and saw that, in front of Professor Dumbledore, a man was sitting down, looking intently at him. He wore a large grey robe which brushed the floor. His hair was black and short, his eyes were of an intense blue; short and straight nose, thin lips, approximately 5'10''. He could be forty or fifty years old, Harry wasn't sure.

"This is my old friend Fabian Jennings. He is the Occlumency master I told you about yesterday, and he will also teach you Legilimency and Mindspeech."

"Good morning, sir."

_Good morning, Harry Potter,_ he heard in his mind. _It's nice to meet you in the end._

Harry raised an eyebrow when he noticed Jennings had used Mindspeech to talk with him.

_Exactly, Harry. You should try to hide your thoughts better; even people in Australia would have been able to hear you. _

Harry snorted at the joke he had made, and Dumbledore chuckled.

"Very well, Harry. It seems you are starting to grasp the idea of Mindspeech. For your lessons, Fabian will go to Grimmauld Place every afternoon at half-past three, unless there is a problem, and you will work two hours with him, but I think it would be a good idea if you had your first lesson here. Before you go back, remind me that I have to give you something. Now," he said, standing up, "I have to check on the Ministry and the school wards. I'll be back in two hours."

And he went through the door. There was a short awkward silence; which was broken by Jennings.

"We should do as Albus asked us; don't you think so, Harry? We will start with Occlumency, since the other two abilities are based on it. When you manage to reach a good ability in it, I will teach you Legilimency, and after that Mindspeech."

"OK, sir," Harry said, nervous. He remembered how awful the lessons with Snape had been.

"Please, don't call me sir, it makes me feel very old," Jennings said, smiling. "Just call me Fabian, or Jennings, the way which suites you better. Now, Albus told me that last year you had lessons with another professor, right?" Harry nodded. "Could you concentrate on those lessons? I feel like I should have a look at them, so that I know from what point I have to teach you."

Harry did as told, and concentrated on all the times Snape had been using Legilimency against him, which had resulted nearly always in a failure.

"I think I will have a talk with Albus about this."

"He knows about what Snape did, er, Fabian."

"I'm sure he didn't notice or mention that Snape not only used brute force to 'teach' you Occlumency, but he destroyed some natural good shields you had there before that. Do you remember that after those lessons you felt worse? That was because the shields weren't there like they had been. I would even say that he did it in purpose so that Voldemort could attack you easier."

"But let's leave that. Now I'm going to teach you properly. First of all, you need to relax yourself. Sit down in the floor and cross your legs," he said, doing it while he was talking. Harry followed him. "Close your eyes and try to organise your mind. Imagine that all your thoughts are kept in boxes or in trunks - whatever you want - and put them in order: one for your friends, various ones for different facts in your life, etc."

The young man did as he was told: he imagined his mind was filled with safe boxes made of titanium - the hardest material he could think of - and inside of them various trunks of different size, all of them labelled with labels: Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore, all the Weasley family, Remus, Sirius... all his friends, family members, even his enemies - Voldemort, Malfoy, the Death Eaters... - and did that with all his thoughts. He then remembered he would need some easily accessible happy thoughts if he had to fight Dementors anytime, so he made some copies of those memories and put them in a separate safe box, which he altered so that it opened if needed but remained closed in any other case. Then he imagined all those safe boxes were in a building made of bricks with poured-in concrete, inner walls made of more titanium and only one door - after all, he wanted to make all those thoughts secure. He opened his eyes and found Fabian in front of him, smiling.

"How much time have I been like this, Fabian?" Harry asked, feeling dizzy.

"Only half an hour, Harry. That must mean that, you have very few thoughts - which I doubt - or you worked extra hard and fast."

"The latter, I think. I feel like everything is spinning. Is that normal?"

"Yes. I nearly fainted because of how hard I had to work so that everything was organised. May I have a look at what you have made?"

"Sure. Have fun," the young lad said, smiling, "but don't break anything, please."

He felt like Fabian was stepping in his mind, going to his thoughts bank, and started to look at it in awe and admiration. Harry 'opened' the door so that Fabian could look at the inside, and he noticed the surprise in the older man when he watched all the safe boxes, none of them with a possible clue of what they were hiding. Then Harry smiled mischievously in his mind and 'closed' the door, to trap Fabian into his mind, just when he was trying to go out. That made Fabian be angry at him, and he 'shouted', _Damn, Harry, I can't stay here. Although I have to admire your style, it's not very funny for me. We still have to try a few things._

_OK, Fabian_, Harry snorted while 'opening' the door again. When he felt Fabian was outside, he 'closed' it again and Fabian opened his eyes.

"Well done, Harry. You have made your first step into protecting your mind from Voldemort. Why did you pick that 'bank' idea?"

"I'm Muggleborn, Fabian. For nearly eleven years I have heard about bank security and I thought it would be good to do something like that. Every safe box is made of titanium, whose numerical codes are very well hidden, and the 'bank' is well reinforced against subtle attacks - at least that's what I think."

Fabian started to laugh. "Well, that's a lesson for me. Never to trust a Marauder's son." When Harry raised his eyebrow, like asking him, he said, "My younger brother met your parents when he was attending Hogwarts. He was in Ravenclaw, but he get on well with James, Lily and their friends. I still remember one day that someone had charmed the entrance to the Great Hall so that everybody's robes turned red and gold when they entered. I've never laughed more than when he told me about your parents' antics. When they left school, I met them in an Order meeting and they told me about the group they formed at school.

"Ok, let's keep it up. I'll try to attack your mind on a subtle way and you will have to stop me from prying into your thoughts. _Legilimens_!"

Harry noticed the presence in his mind, and he realised he wouldn't go on the 'destroy everything' route Snape used with him, but on a much more subtle way. Fabian was walking around the 'building', trying to find a way to get into it. Harry knew the weakest point was the door, so he concentrated his efforts on protecting it. The first attack came by there, but soon Fabian realised it would not do any good, so he changed tactics: he tried to dig a hole on one of the outer walls. Harry trusted the titanium reinforcements, but the attack managed to break a small hole. Harry hurried to that point and tried to reject his presence. After a short but hard battle, Fabian had to go back, which Harry got advantage from to refill the hole.

"Enough!" Fabian said.

Harry shook his head to recover himself from the hard attack, and stared at the older man, who was beaming at him.

"That's been incredibly good for a first try. Although I managed to make a hole, you refilled it very soon. I was only using the subtler way, but I think you will be able to resist worse attacks. _Legilimens_!"

Surprised by the sudden attack, Harry barely had time to hide behind the door and close it before Fabian managed to enter. Now he was using a more Snape way to get in, as it proved the fierce digging he was doing on one of the walls. Harry went to that point, but when he arrived Fabian had entered and now he was trying to open one of the safe boxes, the one in which stood his 'Enemies' memories and thoughts. Harry started to push Fabian out back through the hole by grabbing his mind with his mental arm, but he was putting a big resistance against it. While Harry could move him further away from the safe boxes, he wasn't near to the possibility of shoving him out of his mind. Harry tried then another tactic: instead of pushing him, he just had to make him go backwards by feinting he was going to attack him, and it worked. Finally, after a long struggle in which Harry had cornered Fabian against the wall, but far from the hole, he made a void in the wall and surprised Fabian by pushing him out, then refilling both holes at a quick speed.

"Phew, Harry," Fabian said, obviously impressed. "You are doing this greatly! And Severus said you weren't able even to stop him for a few seconds!"

"The organizing thing you suggested me has helped a lot, Fabian," Harry said, slightly proud. "Furthermore, Snape didn't really want to teach me, he just took advantage to torture me with my bad memories."

"Albus will arrive in a few minutes, if that clock works correctly," Fabian said, pointing at one clock which was hanging on the left wall. "I'll ask him to try Legilimency on you, so that you can tell the difference between different wizards."

"Speaking of the devil," Harry answered, because Dumbledore had just entered the room.

"Hello, Harry. How was the lesson, Fabian?"

The wizard launched himself on the tale of what had they been doing during the last two hours.

"When I had first used Legilimency on him, it was very easy to pry on his mind, but now I doubt even the Dark Lord will be able to reach any thought of him. Anyway, I was going to ask you if you would be kind to do it yourself."

"To help him distinguish between different wizards?" Fabian nodded. "Well, I just have to say... _Legilimens_!" Dumbledore casted on Harry.

This time he had been prepared, and had closed the door to his thoughts and was now watching all the walls to make sure Dumbledore would not be able to enter in his mind.

Unfortunately for him, Dumbledore's methods were different from Fabian's, because Dumbledore didn't make holes on the wall, but on the floor, something Harry didn't realize until he heard the noise that was coming from below him. The lad went to the point he could detect Dumbledore was going to arrive to, and when the hole appeared, Harry started to refill it again at top speed to thwart the Headmaster's efforts. This lasted a few seconds until Harry noticed that now Fabian was trying to do the same as before.

He swore and started to make something very risky: while one part of his mind was concentrated on counteracting Dumbledore, the other half tried to expand the room so that he could thicken the walls without reducing the space in which the safe boxes and him were.

It appeared that he was successing in his effort, because the hole below him was starting to reduce in spite of his divided attention. Then Harry decided to prank the Headmaster by refilling the tunnel he had created, but behind him so that he was trapped hopelessly.

He managed to do it, but at the cost of Fabian being very near of getting inside, so he resumed the thickening-expanding of the walls while trying to trap Dumbledore.

_OK, Harry, you win_, Fabian said, half-irritated and half-amused. _Dumbledore is asking me to ask you to free him from the trap you have set._

Harry did as he was told, nearly unable to control his chuckles, but when everybody was back in their places and both adult wizards had lifted the Legilimency spell, the younger man started to roll with laughter while the older men chuckled.

"That has been incredible, Harry," the Headmaster said, fiercely proud of his protégé. "I did not reach that level of defence until two weeks of intense work. And how did you know trapping me would help?"

"I made something similar to Fabian here while he was exploring my mind, not trying to pry on my thoughts: while he was inside, I closed the front door and didn't let him out. It was just to prank him, but I didn't know it would help me."

"If, while using Legilimency, you get trapped in another person's mind, isolated from your body, you stop having the power to try and pry on the other person's thoughts," Fabian explained. "So that will be an advantage for you: use their ways to get into your mind against them."

Harry whistled. "Imagine if I did that to Voldemort; it would be very helpful!"

"I'm sure that would only work if he was alone against you. If he were with at least one or two Death Eaters who also knew Legilimency, they most probably will attack you to help their master."

"It was a good idea, after all," Fabian said.

"Although you have managed to do it very well, I would like you to keep practising Occlumency with Fabian, at least for a week, until you are able to keep your shields up 24 hours a day. I'm sure that in a few hours you'll start to have a headache, so you should drop them for a while."

"How do I do that?"

"Just try to think of the walls around your safe boxes falling. You can keep the safe boxes, so that you can keep your thoughts organised. Another effect of that organisation is that you will be able to keep your temper better."

"It sounds as if it is an improvement from last year."

"Well, Harry, you should be going now. And before I forget it..." Dumbledore went to the glass cabinet where Godric Gryffindor's sword was and took it. "This is yours, Harry, as the rightful heir of Godric Gryffindor. I have a feeling that you will use this sword at least once more in your life."

"Thanks, Professor."

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That afternoon, Harry was reading one of the books Dumbledore had lent him so that he could learn to create his own spells, after putting away his sword and having a look at the phoenix egg (Hedwig was taking care of it like if it was hers, so he didn't have to be very worried about it). He had seen how many things one should do to invent a spell, but Harry thought it would be great to do all those. He had been thinking for a long time on the lines of a new Shield spell, that could protect better than the Protego, because he still remembered how badly injured Hermione was at the Department of Mysteries because of that purple flame Dolohov had cast.

He had gone along a big part of the book, but although he had been able to think what to do in each phase of the invention, he couldn't do anything due to the fact that he had to use magic and he was still under the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery. He had resigned to the fact that he would have to wait until he was back at Hogwarts to make everything, so he had decided to write in a parchment everything he had thought about his new spell, but he was interrupted by Sirius, who had knocked on the door of his bedroom.

"Pronglet, are you busy?"

"No, Sirius, come in."

The Animagus opened the door, and with a questioning look on his face, he said, "Have you been making magic in here?"

"No. I've been reading this book about Spell Crafting, but I didn't do anything about what I had been planning. Why?"

"Because you have just received a letter from Mafalda Hopkirk herself, and she only sends these when a minor has been using magic out of school," Sirius replied, handing him an envelope.

Fearing what the letter would say, Harry opened the envelope and read it:

_Dear Mr. Potter, _

_Due to the events of last year and to the request of Professor Albus Dumbledore, you have been granted with an exception of the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery. _

_Do not abuse of this exception, and only use it in necessary situations, or we will have to retire it from you. _

_Yours faithfully, _

_Mafalda Hopkirk _

_Improper Use Of Magic Office _

_Ministry of Magic _

"Wow, Dumbledore really wants me to practice everything this summer. He has managed to convince Mafalda Hopkirk to except me from the Decree of Restriction."

"Mafalda joined the Order a few months ago, when she realised Fudge had been using all his efforts to shut Albus and you up. It didn't take much to convince her, from what I heard."

"Great! Now I'll be able to create this new Shield Spell I had been thinking of for a long time. May I ask you something?"

"Yes."

"How much would it take to convince the goblins in Gringotts so that I could access my parents' vault? I'd like to have a look at Mum's journals, so that I could see which spells she created and how she made them, to use that as a base."

"Hmmm. That's a good question." Sirius' joyous face was replaced by a pensive one. "I think we should talk with Bill. He is the best non-goblin expert in Gringotts. Since he has been working so much time there, he knows of lots of things related to them, and he has been trying to make the goblins join our side since we heard about Voldemort."

"Is he downstairs?"

"No, he is out on a mission. I'll ask Molly when he is due to come back."

"Thanks. While you do that, I'll try to create my first spell."

Sirius went back downstairs while Harry did as the book said to make the spell. It was a hard work that lasted nearly half an hour, but soon he had developed his new Shield, the Mirror Wall: you pointed your wand to the floor, and while saying _Miraculum_! you would swing it so that you 'drew' a line on the floor. An invisible wall would rise, and someone trying to hex you would find suddenly that the spell went back to him, but it only worked one way; the Mirror Wall caster would still be able to use spells while the attackers would struggle to avoid both their own spells and the defender spells.

He still had to test it, so that he could know approximately how much time the Mirror Wall lasted and its range of protection, and he had thought of asking Sirius and Remus to help him with his new creation, so he went to the kitchen to find them. When he was about to reach the knob, the door opened and he found himself facing Bill Weasley.

"Hi, Harry! Sirius said you needed my help for something related to your first-security-level vaults," the older man said.

"Hi Bill, and yeah, I would like to have a look there. I think there is something very important in one of my vaults, and I'd like to retrieve it."

"I was just going to Gringotts to report that I had come back, so I will try to kill two birds with a stone and ask if you could have a look there. I had just told Sirius, so I'm just only telling you so that you don't get the news second-handedly."

"Thanks, Bill, it would mean a lot. And, before you go..." Harry closed his eyes, and changed his face so that it could resemble Bill's; the only thing that remained from Harry was the scar.

"Wow, so that is how I would look like if I had that scar!" Bill laughed. "You should change your face back, we don't want Mum have a fit."

"Ok, mate," Harry said, changing back to his usual self. While Bill went out of the building, Harry entered the kitchen and found Sirius and Remus talking animatedly.

"Sirius, Remus, could you come with me for a moment?" Harry interrupted them. "I need some help here."

"Sure, Pronglet. Come on, Moony, my godson seems to really need us, and we can continue with our discussion later."

"Sure? I'm only sure that when we have come back, both of us will have forgotten what we were talking about." Everybody started to laugh, and Harry led his Godfather and his old Professor to the room where the Black's family tree tapestry stood.

"Sirius, Remus, I need you to test this shield I have invented with my Spell Crafting ability."

"Harry, you can't use magic, you are still a minor." Remus interrupted.

"Calm down, Moony. Mafalda sent a letter saying they are going to except him from the Decree. We imagine that Dumbledore wants him to test his abilities as soon as possible. Ah, Harry, I think we should start with the Animagus classes tomorrow. You should tell your friends so that they are prepared."

"OK, Sirius. For the moment, we will test this. _Miraculum_!" he said, pointing at the floor and drawing a semicircle around him. "Don't try anything too nasty, this is the first test."

"_Stupefy_!" Lupin said. Harry stood there, and he saw that the red beam of light rebounded in an invisible shield and went back to the werewolf. The young man smiled, and sent a Tickling charm to Lupin's right side and a Disarming spell to his left: Lupin put himself in front of the former while dodging his own Stunner and started to laugh mercilessly.

"Please... hahaha... stop this... hahaha... I can't do it..."

Sirius was roaring with laughter at what his godson had managed to do, but soon he used a Finite Incantatem on Lupin.

"Wow, Pronglet, you amaze me. I had never seen this kind of shield."

"I have just invented it, remember? Anyway, this is supposed to make nearly all hexes rebound and let you use your own spells. I don't know if it would stand against Unforgivables, but at least I'll be able to protect myself against nearly everything the Death Eaters send me."

"_Tarantallegra_!" Sirius casted over Harry. This time, the shield didn't stop the charm and the lad found himself dancing at a very high speed.

"_Finite Incantatem_!" Harry used over himself. His legs stopped to move and he started to think about what had happened.

"It must be that the shield only lasts a minute. Maybe if I pour more magic on it, it will last more time."

"Or maybe is like the Protego charm, which only stops one spell at a time," Lupin suggested.

"No, I'm sure it's only a matter of time, but we could test that too. I'll cast the shield again, and both of you will try to hex me. Use a lot of hexes, but as before do not use something too nasty, please. _Miraculum_!"

The adults casted Leg Locker Curses, Tickling Charms, Stunners, Disarming Spells... everything rebounded on the shield. Harry had used more magic than the other time, so that he could be sure it would last more time. After five minutes of continuous rebounding, the Mirror Wall fell and Harry was hit with a Stunner that K. him. Soon, Sirius woke him up.

"Are you OK, Pronglet?"

"I've been worse, Sirius," Harry said, shaking his head to clear his mind.

"It's been very useful. This time it lasted five minutes, and it made everything we used rebound," Lupin stated.

"Do you think we should show it to the Order? It'll be very useful for everybody," Harry said.

"You are right, but I think we should do it in an alternative way. I believe it would not be a good idea if you were the one to show them the charm: some people in the Order could make a mistake and say something about your abilities around wrong ears."

"Why don't I show it to Dumbledore, and then he says he has discovered it in a book or something like that?" Harry asked, thinking. "That way everybody would be able to know about it but nobody would know about my abilities."

"Good idea, Harry! Moony, we are getting old, the youngsters have the best ideas before us," Sirius said, joking.

"Could you show us your... how do you call it?"

"Mirror Wall Charm. Yeah, it is easy to use it. You just have to say Miraculum and then you point at the floor, directing the wand to where you want the wall. The more magic you pour in it, the more time it will last against hexes. And you don't have to worry if you need to attack; it only works one way, like those one-way mirrors Muggles use. I'm going to find Ginny and the others, so that I'm not in the middle of a lost hex," Harry said, laughing and running out of the room before Remus or Sirius could stop him.

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Yeah, Harry's powers are awakening! In a few chapters, Harry will be able to control nearly all his abilities in lots of ways, and I would like you to keep reading the story so that you can discover them. Next chapter, "The Four Heads"!


	9. The Four Heads

Chapter 9

The Four Heads

Three days later, the whole group went to Diagon Alley to buy all the books they would need for the next year. Everybody had gone first to Gringotts, but Harry only wanted to go there to retrieve his mom's charm journals. Then, the group separated; while the Weasleys, the Grangers, the Longbottoms and the Lovegoods went to Madam Malkin's to find new clothes for everybody, Harry – conveniently disguised with his Metamorphmagi abilities -, Sirius and Remus went on an errand to find useful items which could be helpful for him.

Harry's feelings at this moment were of great happiness: his lessons with Fabian were going great, since they would start with Legilimency in the next class; Sirius' lessons with his friends were very nice - the six of them knew which ones would be their Animagus forms, but they hadn't started yet to change their appearances - and Dumbledore was going to start teaching him wandless, wordless and elemental magic the next day; last action of a Death Eater was the attempt of kidnapping of Hermione at the hands of Bellatrix Lestrange; and the relationships between Ron and Hermione, and between himself and Ginny were strengthening.

So long, he had found a trunk which was much like old Mad-Eye Moody's one, which he had intended to keep the most important things he had, like the invisibility cloak he had inherited from his father, the Marauder's Map, the journals his mother had written about her invented spells, his genealogical tree, the collection of books about Defence Against the Dark Arts Remus and Sirius had given him last Christmas, among others. He then had used a Shrinking Charm on the trunk so that he could carry it in his pocket.

He had also found a small bookshop, not Flourish and Blotts, which specialized in books about very advanced subjects, like elemental magic, wordless magic and all the things he was studying with Fabian. He bought them, alongside one about magical wards and contracts, and put them into his trunk, since he was intending to read more about what was he going to be able to do in the future, to grasp the concept of all of them and, for the one on magical contracts, to prepare the one he had thought of using for the DA.

By that time, it was time to meet back with the others, who now were going to Flourish and Blotts to buy the school books for everybody. Harry had offered his books to Ginny so that she didn't have to buy battered second-hand ones, and she had accepted them after some convincing arguments from the young man and some hesitation of her parents, but Harry knew they would still feel awkward at what someone would consider 'charity'. Fortunately, they accepted it without consequences, and everybody had their books soon. Their next stops were the apothecary, so that the teenagers (minus Ron and Neville) could get supplies for their Potions classes; to Scrivenshaft, where they bought rolls of parchment for their future essays; and, finally, to the Magical Menagerie, where Harry and Ron bought owl treats, Hermione a few things for Crookshanks, her half-kneazle cat, and Neville some food for his toad Trevor. Harry had been thinking on the lines of finding a present for Ginny's birthday, and he knew she loved animals, so it would be a good start to look here. He was delighted to see his girlfriend was looking with shining eyes to a group of young cats. She was particularly taken by the most little one, which was black and, apparently, had green eyes like Harry's. Taking advantage of the fact that everybody was distracted, he asked the shopkeeper about that cat in particular.

"The black green-eyed cat? It is a male, the only one in a litter of seven cats; the others were female. He is still being fed by his mother, but he will be weaned in one week or so."

Harry smiled. "Could you do me a favour? I'd like to buy him as a present for the girl who is watching the cats, but it is still three weeks until her birthday, so I would like to know if you could try not to sell him to anybody until I came back for him."

"Well, if you paid me half the price he costs, I would gladly do that. Of course, if you decide that you would rather give her another present, I would give you back the money. Consider it as a deposit."

"Great! Could I also pay for everything the cat would need, like the food, a travelling basket, all those?"

"Sure! We have a special sandbox that makes all his droppings disappear magically, a sack of food that lasts more or less one year, some toys for the cat, a basket charmed so that the animal doesn't get sick if you are travelling with him... all those things," the witch said, smiling at him.

"How much money would that cost?"

The witch told him the quantity and Harry, using his special wallet, pulled out half the money she was asking for and paid her, while saying: "I'll come for everything the 10th of August."

"Thanks, and come back soon."

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While they were leaving the shop, Sirius whispered on Harry's eye, "Buying presents for Gin, aren't you?"

Harry looked at him. "What are you talking about?" he said, although he knew he had been caught red-handed.

"Harry, I was watching you while you asked the shop assistant what to do around that cat your gorgeous girlfriend was looking at a few minutes ago. Be careful, because she will thank you in a very enthusiastic way," Sirius replied, winking at him mischievously. Harry blushed.

"Could you keep it a secret? I want to give her a big surprise, and the less people who know about this, the better."

"My lips are sealed," the Animagus said, smiling. "Come on, I'm sure you will want to have a look at the twins' shop."

At that moment they had reached number 93, Diagon Alley, where Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes stood. Even without the name, it was obvious who the owners were, because the front wall was decorated with various gaudy red adverts which announced to the people what their last inventions were, and behind the glass stood a miniature Portable Swamp, like the one they had used just before leaving Hogwarts.

The big group entered the shop, which was already crowded with young people eager to buy the pranks Fred and George had invented. From what Harry could see, the Skiving Snackboxes were booming, being the Fainting Fancies the most sold among them.

"What I would have given to have one of these while I was at school," Sirius said, impressed.

"Hi, everybody!" the twins said in unison, smiling at everybody. "Welcome to Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes! We expect you enjoy our premises!"

Harry, Ron and Sirius started to laugh; the ability they had of talking at the same time was hilarious.

"Ah, Harry! We wanted especially to talk with you," Fred said, recognising him in spite of his changed appearance.

"We would like to share with you how the business is going, since you were our financial supporter..." George continued.

"... and we also wanted to tell you about a very important piece of business we have to do, and we need your help."

"Sure, guys. Would you mind if Sirius was there, too?"

"No," the twins said at the same time.

"Angelina!" Fred said, and the former Gryffindor Chaser appeared next to them. She was wearing the same uniform the twins had, red with two golden yellow 'W's in the front.

"Hi, Harry," she said, smiling.

"Hi, Angelina. Are you working here?"

"Yes, but only for a few months, until I manage to pass Quidditch tryouts for a professional team. Fred, very kindly, offered me a job here, alongside with Alicia."

"Is she here too?" Harry asked, surprised.

"Yeah," George said, beaming. "I told her about this during one of our dates, the same as Fred did with Angelina..."

Harry snorted at this; imagining one of the twins with someone who wasn't the other twin should be something worth being seen.

"... and she accepted."

"Angelina, would you mind to watch the shop for a few minutes? The four of us have to discuss a few matters."

"Sure, Fred," she answered, kissing him on his cheek before going to the counter.

"She's a dear," Fred said, directing Harry and Sirius to the back door of the shop, George behind them. Harry saw it was a staircase.

"These stairs lead to the most important places in the building. Our laboratory is in the basement, the office is in the second floor and the flat is in the third," George explained.

"It's a pity we had to use the fourth floor as storage, or we would have given it to Lee for living. He helps us with the paperwork and goes for all the shipments of everything we need for our inventions. Here we are," Fred said, opening one of the doors at the second floor, which said: 'Fred Weasley, Co-Owner'.

"Everybody get a seat, this will take some time," Fred said, sitting behind the table and turning upside down the drawers on his side of it. "Aha! Here is it."

"Harry, we want you to be a silent partner in our business," George said.

Harry was mouth-agape. "You must be kidding."

"No, Harry!" the twins said.

"You financed our business in a moment we hardly could think of it..."

"... you saved us a lot of time and problems..."

"... you have given us a good work on what we like to do..."

"... and we want you to share the profits..."

"... a third of them!"

"No way, men. If I have to take it, five percent."

"Wait a moment. Harry, you are supposed to rise, not to drop," Sirius said, amused.

"What would I do with all that money? From what I saw in my parents' vault, I would hardly need a share in the profits."

"Thirty percent," Fred said.

"Seven-point-five."

"Twenty-five."

"Ten."

"Fifteen; that's our last offer."

Harry sighed. "Okay, guys. I accept that."

"You will only have to sign here, mate." Harry did as Fred told him. "Very well, now you are our partner, and that has a few rights and obligations."

"First, you will have to make some marketing studies in Hogwarts. We plan to employ Ron and Ginny for that part, too, but the more the merrier."

"Second, if you have any ideas about new inventions, tell us. If your ideas are good, we will try to invent them."

"That part includes anything on the defensive way, because the Order is asking us to invent things to help them."

"Third, you will receive every month an owl with all the information about the economics of the business."

"And, last but not least important..."

"... you have unlimited credit in this shop."

"Are you serious?"

"Of course! And you could try to use a few of them at Hogwarts, for promotion and all that."

"Thanks!"

Sirius smiled. "We should go downstairs. Everybody must be waiting for us."

And so they did.

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Harry was now in the library with all his friends: Ron was playing chess against Neville; Hermione was reading one of the schoolbooks they had recently bought; Harry and Ginny were sitting together and reading the book about wordless magic, in which both were interested; and Luna was stroking Crookshanks and reading the last edition of The Quibbler.

"Nice move, Neville," Ron praised, watching the chessboard. He moved a tower and said: "Check."

"Neville, I don't know why you try to play with him. Nobody has ever been able to win against him since he started Hogwarts," Harry said, cuddling Ginny while she had the book in her hands.

"Harry, you know that I never lose faith in being the first on beating him. Anyway, I always feel that Ron needs a boost on his self-esteem, and this is the best way to do so." Everybody laughed.

Someone knocked on the door, and the six teenagers saw it was Mr. Weasley.

"Harry, would you mind coming to the kitchen for a moment? There is something of great importance I have to talk with you about."

Harry gulped, because he thought it was obvious he wanted to talk about his intentions towards Ginny. "Okay, I'll be there soon." Mr. Weasley smiled and left the doorframe.

"Gin, I have to leave you. If I haven't come back in two hours, start a search party, please."

Ginny smiled at him. "Don't worry, Dad isn't likely to kill you or something like that," she replied giggling. They kissed softly and Harry went out of the library.

When he arrived to the kitchen, he was surprised to see Sirius and Dumbledore there.

"OK, Albus, now that we have Harry here, shall we proceed?" Sirius said.

"Indeed, Sirius," Dumbledore answered. He pulled a book out of one of his pockets and put it on the table, in front of Harry. "Would you be so kind of putting your right hand on the book, Harry?"

Harry, questioning himself what was all this about, did as Dumbledore told him to do, and in the moment he touched the book, a strange feeling travelled through his body, warming him. The book glowed red, and Dumbledore said, in a solemn voice:

"Harry James Potter, do you swear solemnly that you are the one and rightful heir of James Michael Potter, the last heir of the Ancient and Well-Respected House of Potter?"

Somehow, Harry knew what he had to say. "I'm Harry James Potter, the one and rightful heir of James Michael Potter, the last heir of the Ancient and Well-Respected House of Potter."

The book glowed green for a few seconds, and then it stopped doing so.

"That will do," Dumbledore said, smiling.

"I'm sorry if I seem impolite, but what was all this about?" Harry asked.

"Arthur told me the other day that you know about how the Vote of No Confidence works. Well, with this little ritual, in spite of your minority of age, you have become the Magical Head of the House of Potter."

Harry was speechless.

"Pronglet, now you are a very important person, and part of the government of this country. You should have given us some kind of speech on what are you going to do to improve the lives of the voters," Sirius said, mock-seriously.

"Sirius, please, don't laugh at him," Arthur said, smiling. "Or shall I remind you that both of us are Magical Heads?"

"You are Magical Heads, too?" Harry asked to the adults.

"Of course, Harry," Dumbledore said. "Sirius is the Head of the House of Black, Arthur is the Head of the House of Weasley, and, if I weren't the Chief of the Wizengamot, I would be able to act as the Head of the House of Dumbledore. The four of us will have to act in the Vote of No Confidence against Cornelius. If we are lucky, we can try to appoint someone better for the post."

"Madame Bones?" Harry asked, and Dumbledore nodded.

"She would be the best bet. She is very hard-working, strict but kind, and will do everything on her hands to stop this war. And the fact that she is a woman will help both her and us."

"Why?"

"There is something about Voldemort nearly nobody knows really, but you may have noticed it, Harry: Voldemort thinks that women are weak, stupid and all that rubbish."

"In short, he is a male chauvinist," Sirius replied.

"Indeed, Sirius," Dumbledore conceded. "And the fact that he was able to possess Miss Weasley through the diary has only reinforced that idea. So, if Madame Bones is chosen as Minister, Voldemort will think that she is a puppet and will look for the "power behind the throne" to control him like Lucius Malfoy did with Cornelius."

"To sum it up, in six days time, the four of us will go to courtroom one. It would be very useful if you went there disguised, at least in the Atrium. There will be hundreds of journalists and the last thing we want is to attract the attention of You-Know-Who," Mr. Weasley said. "Then you would change back in the courtroom. Nobody out of this house is to know that you are a Metamorphmagus."

"Sounds well."

"You will have to learn a bit about how to behave in this kind of events. Tomorrow, after our class, I'll tell you what you are supposed to do the next day."

"Will I have to do something important on my position of Head of the House of Potter?"

"I have no idea, Pronglet, but I'd bet you will have young witches trying to throw their arms round your neck when they hear about this," Sirius half-joked.

"Having Ginny's will be enough," Harry replied with a faint blush.

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The next day, Harry went back through the Floo network to Grimmauld Place after his first lesson on wand/wordless magic and of etiquette at half-past one (he had eaten at Hogwarts). Saying he was tired was hardly a statement: he was exhausted after a long morning in which Dumbledore had made him cast spells without pointing with his wand and mouthing the incantations: they had started easily, with Wingardium Leviosa which, in his opinion, had started to work well in his fifth try. It was very hard to cast a spell without the wand and without saying the incantation, but he had picked up the general idea: you had to concentrate on the flowing of your magic inside you instead of on the wand and the words you had to say. It was both exhausting and frustrating if you weren't able to direct your magic towards the intended point.

Harry realised he had done a good job when he felt his magic was 'blowing' under the feather he was using to test his abilities. Dumbledore had praised him for his success and had asked him to do it a few more times until he could do it easily. They made nearly all charms Harry had learned to do until the summoning charm in his fourth year when Dumbledore told him to stop, because he had to learn how to behave in the meeting for the Vote of No Confidence: he learnt the formal language used in those meetings, he heard about the different parts of the meeting, and he repeated to himself until he knew by heart what he had to say to acknowledge his position as the Head of the House of Potter.

He had done his best to keep up with the great torrent of new knowledge that now went over his mind, but he struggled so that he didn't become mad. At least, now he would be able to conduct himself in the upcoming Vote of No Confidence – in five days time, nonetheless – without staying short of words.

Since Dumbledore had asked Fabian to cancel the Legilimency lesson of today, he intended to pass the afternoon with Ginny, talking about the upcoming meeting, about the war and – overall – about themselves. On the contrary of Cho Chang, with whom he only had the Quidditch in common, he could talk with Ginny about a lot of things: Quidditch, their friends, books, their magical abilities, their lives, their love for each other and their fondness of Sirius - whom both felt as a friend and an uncle. They also spent time doing some serious snogging, because they liked it and they thought they didn't hurt anybody.

But first he had to find her. She was not in the kitchen or in the library. He went upstairs to knock on the girls' room door, but Luna told him Ginny was on the roof, and had asked her to tell him that. After thanking Luna, Harry ran upstairs to the roof.

When he arrived, he was surprised to see that someone had charmed the roof so that it resembled a sandy beach. The sun was shining in the sky, but Harry was mesmerised at the sight of his girlfriend.

Ginny was wearing a light blue bikini that left nearly all her body exposed to the action of the sun tanning. She was lying down on the floor, over a towel, and had not realised that now there was somebody else there: Harry walked towards her, trying not to look too much at the feminine body she had, but at her face, covered with sunglasses, making him unable to know if she had her eyes opened or closed – the latter more probably, since the sun was in the direction she was facing.

"Hi, precious," he said, kneeling beside her.

"Hi, stranger," she replied, smiling. They kissed for a while and Harry conjured another towel – he was getting good at this thing – so that he could be lying down with her.

"How is that I never heard of this?" Harry asked.

"This morning, I found some kind of switch in the stairs that steer here and I asked Sirius what it did," Ginny said, turning around so that sun tanned her back. "When he said it was something his family used to transform the roof into this beach, I turned it on and put on a bikini I had bought in Diagon Alley when Mum wasn't looking. Do you like it?"

"It suits you perfectly, Gin. In fact, I think I will need a very cold shower to reduce the impression you had caused me," Harry replied, blushing in a very Weasley way.

Ginny only took off her sunglasses, and Harry could tell that she was struggling not to laugh in his face.

"And exactly how much have I impressed you, Mr. Potter?" she said in a seductive tone. If he blushed more, his face would burst in a fire.

"A lot," he admitted.

"Let's see it," she replied, and in a heartbeat she was on top of him, in a way that reminded Harry of the first time they had kissed. _Wait a moment, she is doing exactly the same as the first time we kissed_, he thought.

When her lips touched his, it was like he was unconscious, because he couldn't register about his surroundings, only Ginny's presence. His tongue started to caress her lips, and she opened them, allowing him to thrust his tongue on her mouth and deepening the kiss. Harry's hands were caressing Ginny's soft back in a way that made her feel like a very valuable treasure for him.

Then, Harry's hands started to move north, to the knot that tied Ginny's bikini on her back, and started to undo it, but when he was on the point of untying it completely…

"Ginny!" someone shouted.

That awoke both youngsters from the frenzy they had been during the last minutes. Harry blushed even more than before, since he felt he had been caught red-handed in the moment he was about to… _Calm down, Potter, it won't do any good if you think on that way_, he told himself.

The door that connected the roof to the lower floor opened, and Hermione came through it.

"Ah, hi, Harry! I didn't know you were here. Ginny, your mum needs everybody downstairs; she needs help preparing the meal."

"Tell her I'll come downstairs soon," she replied. When Hermione disappeared back into the house, Ginny told Harry: "It's a good thing she appeared, or we would have gone very far."

"Yeah. Do you need help to arrive to your room for changing?"

"No, I have them here," she said, pointing to a bag Harry had not seen before. In a heartbeat, she took a shirt and some jeans out of it and was fully clothed.

"We should be going, or Mum will have a fit."

"As you say, my lady," Harry said, offering his arm to her.

Ginny laughed and took his arm, leading him out.

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"Harry, don't force it too much, just let the magic flow through you… very well… well done!"

Dumbledore was now teaching Harry how to transfigure objects with wandless and wordless magic. Since they had done the same the day before, the young man knew how to handle the magic so that it did what he wanted, but Transfiguration was slightly more difficult than Charms, because it implied a change in the atomic structure of the object, something that had to be treated with delicacy. So far, he had reviewed the first, second and third year of transfiguration spells, and now he was trying to use a Cross-Species Switch Spell, like the one he had learned in his fourth year, just before hearing about the Yule Ball of the Triwizard Championship. He had just managed to transform a chicken into a guinea pig.

"You are improving your magical ability at a very fast rate. This is a very good signal of your power."

"It's a bit exhausting, in spite of it," Harry complained.

"Don't worry about it. When you have practiced enough, you will have to do lots of magic until you are really depleted of magic. Anyway, I would like you to improve your physical condition."

"How? I mean, I can't do some running into Grimmauld Place, unless I go up and down the stairs a lot of times, and for the muscles, I would not have an idea of what to do."

"Well, you could try to buy some gymnastic devices and send them to Sirius' house. I do believe there is a magical shop in Bristol that sells some interesting devices, like Muggle ones, but with some improvements. For example, a Muggle treadmill only has the black rubber strip to run on, but a magical treadmill can change the structure of the place where you are running: you can find hurdles, holes in the ground, and you could find yourself in a desert with cactus, or in the middle of a swamp. I think that the Auror program uses those machines for their trainings."

"Sounds nice," Harry said, smiling.

"They also have exercise bikes that simulate going uphill and downhill, weight-lifting machines that adapt themselves to the user and some kind of dummies which can be charmed so that they behave like normal fighters would do. They do not have too much demand, so the prices aren't very high."

"When could I go there, so that I can buy them?"

"No, Harry. I can't allow you to go there. It could be dangerous. But you seem to forget that the devices can be bought in a way that would not include a trip to Bristol. You only would have to send your owl to the shop, and the devices could be shrunk and have a Feather-Weight Charm so that the same owl could carry them back. For the payment, I could ask him by the Floo Network the cost and you would only have to send the money with the owl."

"Could you do it now? I feel that the sooner we have the training machines, the best."

"Of course, Harry. Just give me a few minutes." The Headmaster went straight to the fireplace and threw some Floo powder into the fire, while saying; "Wizard Gym Facilities!"

Harry sat down on his chair and waited for Professor Dumbledore to finish his conversation with the shop owner, while the knowledge that wizards had exercise machines too sank into him.

Dumbledore's head re-emerged from the fire to tell Harry; "Each machine costs twenty Galleons, and the dummies are forty Galleons."

"I'll say… four of each machine, and ten dummies. It couldn't hurt that we have more than enough so that everybody in the house is able to use them."

"Wise decision," Dumbledore answered, before putting his head again in the fire and spoke for a few more minutes. Finally he pulled his head out of the fire.

"Everything should be prepared for tonight. I'd recommend you to send your owl with the money as soon as you arrive to Grimmauld Place. It'll be six-hundred and forty galleons."

"Thanks for everything, Professor."

"You are welcome, Harry. Now, just come back to Sirius' house. I'm sure that you will want to tell your friends the good news, as well as prepare yourself for your next lesson with Fabian. By the way, how far are you in the Legilimency lessons?"

"Quite well, according to Fabian. I can get into his mind and pull a good fight, but I am far from being able to reach his thoughts."

"Don't worry about it, Harry. Soon, you will be able to do that and more. I would highly recommend you to help your friends to learn Occlumency. That way, you can teach them and at the same time teach yourself, but don't do anything unless they give you permission."

"Again, thanks, Professor."

"Again, you're welcome."

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"Wow, mate! What are all these?"

The gymnastic devices had arrived a few minutes ago, and Harry had just reversed the Feather-Weight Charm and the Shrinking Charm they were under so that everything could be transported easily by Hedwig.

"Dumbledore wants us to keep fit, and he recommended all these things. It is supposed that everything has its instructions somewhere. Those are magical treadmills, these are exercise bicycles and those are weight-lifting machines. I'm going to ask Sirius if there is a more spacious room in this house for our new training dummies."

"Do you plan to have a regular timetable for these?" Hermione asked.

"I was planning on two hours a day for each of us. One hour for the machines and another hour for the dummies. That is, if you want to do it."

"Harry, I still remember the battle at the Ministry, and I could tell that Death Eaters don't really do any physical working. If we are better in that part than them, it is a won battle," Neville said, in a very serious tone.

"I'm on it, Harry," Ginny said, proudly.

"Everybody's on it, mate," Ron stated.

"That's good. I had planned on having a physical program for the D.A., and this will help us a lot. Do you want to try these now?"

"Yeah!" the five teenagers said.

"We have to balance our development. Strength won't do any good if we don't have resistance and agility. I think we should do this: Ron and Hermione on the bikes, Luna and Ginny on the treadmills, and Neville and I on the weight-lifting machines, and we rotate every twenty minutes. Don't overexert yourselves, this afternoon we will test the dummies."

"We'll do that, boss," Ginny said, snickering.

While everybody went to the machine Harry had suggested, Sirius and Remus entered the room.

"Hey, since when do we have a gym in the house, Pronglet?" Sirius asked in a good mood.

"I bought all these things yesterday," he said, positioning himself for his training. "Dumbledore suggested it, and now we are starting."

"Do you mind if we join you? It'll be useful, too," Remus said.

"Sure! Choose any machine. The ones Ginny and Luna are using are treadmills, Ron and Hermione are busy with the bikes, and Neville and I are lifting weights."

Both adults chose to try the treadmills and they started to run.

Ginny and Luna were having a bit of fun testing how it worked the treadmill, and they decided to run in a big mixture of everything it had, from dangerous swamps to dry deserts. The red-haired girl especially liked when there was an odd obstacle, like a cactus or even quicksand.

Hermione obviously had not done a lot of exercise in her life, being more a studying person, but her stubbornness and pride made her overcome the weariness she was feeling now. _If I do this everyday_, _it will help me a lot_, she continuously reminded herself.

Neville and Harry were struggling with the weights. Although they were magically adapted to the user's strength, it was still difficult to lift them more than ten times in a row. Harry, as a Quidditch player, could do it well, but Neville had a more difficult time, because between his usual clumsiness and the lack of physical life he had had as a wizard had not done a lot of good. The only thing that helped him keep it up was the thought that Harry would need him in the near future and, unconsciously, he wanted to impress a certain blonde girl who was a few metres from him.

Ron was the one who had it easier, having done lots of chores for his mother, especially throwing garden gnomes out of the Burrow's orchard. The fact that he had done it nearly once a week since he was six years old, playing Quidditch with his siblings since his seventh birthday and at school since last year had done a lot to his physique.

After twenty minutes, they switched devices and kept working with their exercises, finishing with another twenty minutes on the last machine.

"God!" Hermione said, leaving the treadmill, the last machine she had been using. "I really need some rest. I'm going to have a shower and then to the library."

"Care if I join you, 'Mione?" asked Ron, who seemed to be less exhausted than her. "If you want, I can help you to go upstairs."

The bushy-haired girl smiled. "Yes, Ron. But I think both of us would need a good shower. Everybody here, in fact."

"Well, if we beat everybody, we will be the first to get free," Ron replied, lifting her with his arms easily and taking her out of the room. Hermione giggled while trying to make Ron let her walk on the ground, but the red-haired boy wouldn't hear anything about it. When they left the room, everybody started to laugh whole-heartedly.

"Oh, my, Ron really knows how to treat a lady," Sirius said, among laughter.

"_His_ lady, you mean, Sirius," Neville replied, rolling on the floor.

"I'm going to the shower, too," Harry said. "I want to be prepared for my lesson with Fabian; it starts in twenty minutes or so."

"OK, Pronglet." "See you later." "Good luck."

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Harry was now in his bedroom reflecting on the last four days. They had been training with the gymnastic devices and the magic dummies, and the thing was going well. They still had to make it a routine so that the efforts started to show, but he could manage to see a few things in his friends; by the end of their last training, none of them was as tired as the first day, and they were slightly stronger, meaning that they could lift heavier weights.

Thanks to the dummies, everybody was also more agile, because since all the teenagers except Harry couldn't use magic, they decided to just practice dodging magic. Harry had told them that not every kind of magic could be repelled by a shield, and that the Unforgivable curses (Imperius, Cruciatus and Avada Kedavra) were not unstoppable; the two latter could be avoided if you managed to put some object, like a boulder, between you and the curse, or just sidestepping it; for the Imperius, you only had to have a strong willpower, like he had demonstrated at the fake Moody's classes two years ago.

His thoughts drifted now to his lessons with Fabian Jennings and Dumbledore. He was starting to have some success with Legilimency, because he had managed yesterday to see a few memories from Fabian, but nothing of real importance. Then Harry had told him what Dumbledore had suggested him to do and Fabian approved it without a doubt: teaching his friends Occlumency would be very good for them, but he should be careful, since they surely wouldn't like him to pry on their privacy.

Harry had also done a lot of things with Dumbledore: he had managed to cast all Defence Against the Dark Arts spells without his wand and without talking. Then Harry had showed him his first self-crafted spells: the Mirror Wall Charm; an offensive spell that provoked the falling of big boulders from the air, which he had called Rock Rain Curse; and the Bed Time Spell (he obviously wanted to show his sense of humour), an improved Stunning Spell that caused the receiver to fall asleep for eight hours, unless his own Alarm Clock Spell was cast on the affected person - not even the most powerful Enervate Charm would work. The Headmaster was really impressed with the hard work Harry had done to craft all the spells, and was pleased to see that they worked very well: he tested the four charms, the two latter on Harry, and told him he was proud of his work.

The lessons with Sirius were going great, too, now that the six teenagers knew which their Animagus would be; Hermione's was a vixen, Ron's was a tiger, Neville's a bear, Luna's an eagle owl and Ginny's a lioness – the last one made Sirius snicker, since all of them knew one of Harry's forms was a lion. They had also started to change their bodies: they had started slowly, with his non-wand arm, but all of them had had success. Neville was delighted to see his brown-furred claw with brilliant black nails and had nearly run to show it to his grandmother until Sirius told him he should still try to change it back. Fortunately, he was able to do it so in spite of his nervousness.

The train of thoughts he had made him think specifically of his friends, those five friends he was so proud of. They worked and trained very hard with him and supported him in all his efforts (although Hermione didn't see with good eyes that Harry used magic even if he was allowed to) when they could leave him for his own good, just because of the danger he represented; but they didn't even mention the possibility of not being with him every time he needed help.

That of course led him to think of Ginny, the wonderful nearly-fifteen-years-old that had been the biggest source of happiness he had since she kissed him the afternoon after he left the Dursleys forever. He loved her gorgeous long red hair, which resembled a flame that suited her passionate personality very well. Her shiny brown eyes made him forget his surroundings if she was looking into his eyes. And when their lips connected, it was like a force of nature was released, destructive and all-powerful, and electricity crossed their bodies. He reflected too on that moment a few days ago, in which he had nearly stripped her but Hermione had interrupted the snogging session that had led to that.

He then remembered all the letters he had received two days ago related to his position as the Head of the House of Potter. The Ministry's letter said that, as a Magical Head, he would have to take part in the Vote of No Confidence that would be held next day, and he would also be able to vote in the subsequent elections, if Fudge was kicked out of office. He still was a minor of age under the Wizarding Law, but he practically could behave as if he wasn't one; he could use magic out of school, he would be able to act in a Ministry voting, and he could rule his family – although it only comprised him and Dobby, he felt a bit overwhelmed with this. The thing that had shaken him the most was Gringotts' letter.

Essentially, it was a list of all the possessions he had, inherited from all his family or bought by him. His parents' vaults and the one where the trust was held were mentioned. He was impressed to see that he had interests in lots of companies, both magical and Muggle, nearly all of them being bought by his ancestors: he owned part of the Nimbus Company, Zonko's, Weasleys Wizard Wheezes – he had a laugh when he saw he had stock on rival firms –, the Firebolt Company, a few companies with mining interests and – surprisingly – the holding that comprised, among others, the place where his uncle Vernon worked, Grunnings.

But the most surprising thing was a key which was in the envelope. According to the letter, that key opened the vault with the lowest number he had ever seen – vault 3. Harry had asked both Professor Dumbledore and Bill whose was that vault originally, but they only could tell him that vaults 1 and 2 were the Ministry's and Hogwarts' and Bill added that the lowest the number of the vault was, the highest the security was. Harry could tell that it should be a very important person to have a vault next to those two, and he thought it could be the Four Founders. He had asked Dumbledore how they could know that he was their heir – after telling him about his suspicions – and the Headmaster told him that they had registers of all the people who had vaults in there, alongside with special spells that told them who should receive a key; since he was the first person in the world who descended directly from the founders, the spell would have told them to do that.

Dumbledore had promised that he, personally, would escort him to Gringotts to have a look at that vault. His position as the Headmaster of Hogwarts made it very important for him that he could have a look. He had promised Harry that he would not take anything from the vault unless he authorized it – in fact, the vault had a special security system that didn't allow people to take anything from the interior without the express condition that the owner of the vault allowed it. He had planned to do it immediately after the Vote of No Confidence, independently of the result, which everybody hoped would be against Fudge.

Harry closed his eyes then and slowly drifted into a peaceful dreamless sleep.

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I'm sure you liked the fact that Harry is a Magical Head, standing for the House of Potter, and the existence of vault number 3. The contents of that said vault will be vital in this story, and the VONC will help to the re-introduction of a character lots of people have been asking for.


	10. Vote Of No Confidence

Chapter 10

Vote Of No Confidence

Harry woke up early and went straight to the shower with the clothes he had prepared the day before. He had bought a black businessman suit in the Operation New Age, approximately ten days ago, intended to put it on in an important occasion, and now he was glad he had done it. He had also used an Impervious Charm on it so that it didn't get stained while he was having breakfast.

Lately, Harry had decided to start to wear his hair like Bill's, shoulder-length and in a ponytail. Mrs. Weasley didn't like it and tried – without success – to convince Harry to change it back to his old one, but Ginny had declared adamantly that she preferred Harry's hair that way, and for the young man, his girlfriend's opinion was more important than his girlfriend's mother's opinion, even if she was his surrogate mother.

He still had to decide how he would disguise himself to not attract the journalists' attention while trying to get to Courtroom One, the room designed specifically for the meetings of the Magical Heads. He knew that his mere presence in the Ministry would cause some kind of a riot, and if a Death Eater was there, he could try to kill him just to raise himself into the ranks of Voldemort minions.

After showering and dressing, he came down to the kitchen. While he was having breakfast, everybody in the house started to show up in the room. Mr. Weasley and Sirius were dressed in elegant robes, and were waiting for Dumbledore to show up. They had also decided to disguise themselves, because all of them were known for being personally attached to Harry, and it could still attract undesired attention over themselves.

Finally, the Headmaster arrived, wearing his best electric blue robe. He was the only one who wouldn't disguise himself, because the knowledge of Fudge's near goodbye from the position he had held for nearly six years had transpired to British magical population and Dumbledore was expected to be in the meeting, and it would be suspicious if he was not seen.

"Good morning, everyone," he said, entering the crowded room. "Molly, would you be kind and hand me a cup of that wonderful tea of yours?"

"Of course, Albus," she said, smiling, and poured some tea in a cup which the old wizard summoned cautiously so that she didn't have to move through the group.

"Thank you very much, Molly." He sipped some of the tea, and asked, "Are you prepared for the meeting? Arthur? Sirius? Harry?"

The three mentioned nodded.

"Very well. We should be going in a few minutes, because the meeting is starting at quarter past nine. You should change your appearance now, before anyone manages to get a glimpse from any of you."

Harry nodded again and changed his appearance completely: short blond hair with a strategic fringe to occult his scar, intense blue eyes, slightly hooked nose, thin lips, and he even added some inches to his height, so that he was nearly six feet tall. He may attract some attention, but nobody would be able to recognise the Boy-Who-Lived behind all those physical changes.

Ginny smiled at him, but said, "I'd rather have you as five minutes before, but I understand why you do it. Don't forget your real face, or I'll make sure you won't forget mine."

Harry laughed and hugged his girlfriend. "Don't worry, Gin. I know you like my small, black-haired, green-eyed one. I do have a photograph to show myself the real me, so don't worry."

"You are lucky, Harry," Tonks said. The young Metamorphmagus had appeared in the house by the hand of Remus, which led Harry to think that they had been very busy at Remus' house, and he shivered when he remembered how he had caught them the day Sirius appeared in Privet Drive.

"I have changed my face so many times since I am eleven that I can hardly imagine how I would be now if I had not done that," she said, with a sad smile.

"I'm sure that _everybody_ here," Harry declared, looking intently to Remus, "doesn't mind a lot for that. I can't think of you without your pink hair, so for me that's your natural face."

"Thanks, Harry," she replied, squeezing her boyfriend's hand.

"If you don't have anything more to say," Mr. Weasley said, standing up, "we should get going."

Harry and Sirius stood up too, and the former kissed his girlfriend before going to the fireplace and taking the Floo.

"See you later," he said, before stepping into the fire and shouting, "Ministry of Magic!"

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Harry landed cautiously in the Atrium and went out of the fireplace. He had transformed his glasses so that nobody could recognise him, but he tried to wait in the shadows until Dumbledore, Mr. Weasley and Sirius showed up.

The three adults arrived separately, Dumbledore being the one that attracted the most attention, and allowing the other three to go down with the lifts to floor one, where stood the access to the old courtrooms. They didn't find anybody in their way downstairs, and when they reached the door, Harry changed his appearance back to his normal one, and the adults used a _Finite Incantatem_ on the charms they had applied to themselves. After that, they entered the room and Harry was astonished.

The seats were arranged on a semicircle around a big podium with three seats, which Harry thought would be where Dumbledore, as the Chief of the Wizengamot, would sit. Some people had already arrived to the courtroom, but they were nobody he knew or had heard of. Harry found his seat, on the left half of the semicircle, labelled with a sign; which said "House of Potter" and, engraved in the back, the Potter Family Crest. He sighed with relief when he saw that the "House of Black" and the "House of Weasley" seats were next to his.

"Dumbledore arranged it so that you were better protected, if anyone of those who want Fudge to remain decides that a dead Potter is better than an out-of-office Fudge," Sirius said.

Soon, people started to arrive to the courtroom. Harry recognised a man who looked a bit like Frank Longbottom, Neville's father, and he thought it could be Neville's Great Uncle Algie. He also recognised the barman of the Hog's Head, who was immaculate clean, in the opposite of how he was in the tavern. Out of the tavern, Harry could see a few characteristics that were similar to Albus Dumbledore, and he asked the others if they knew him.

"It's Aberforth."

"Dumbledore's brother? The one that practised charms with a goat?"

"That one. But he is not that mad anymore. Maybe he is still a bit mad, like Albus, but he stopped practicing things like that long ago."

Harry accepted that explanation from Mr. Weasley and sat down, while waiting for everybody to arrive. Five minutes before the meeting formally started, Dumbledore arrived, followed by someone he did not expect to see until next September 1st: Draco Malfoy.

"What the hell is Malfoy doing here?" he asked, both surprised and angry, while the blond boy sat down at the last seat in the right side.

"No idea, you should ask Albus. But I believe that, with his father being in Azkaban, he is the representative of the Malfoy family."

"I don't like having him here. I'm sure he will spoil everything."

"Don't worry; I'm sure we will have enough votes to win."

The last one was Minister Fudge, and Dumbledore, who was sitting down in his place, said aloud:

"I, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Chief of the Wizengamot, declare the session of the Magical Heads on July 25th opened."

The last whispers among the people faded while everybody looked at the old wizard.

"We are meeting here to decide which will be the future of the current Minister for Magic, Cornelius Oswald Fudge, by means of a Vote of No Confidence. This was decided in a previous meeting of the Wizengamot, due to the obvious misuse of power by both Minister Fudge and Senior Undersecretary Dolores Jane Umbridge during years 1995 and 1996. Since the date of the meeting, on July 15th, new proofs of said misuse in that period have come to light, mainly in the trial on Madame Umbridge on July 17th. Miss Clearwater, as one of the Court Scribes, was in the trial. Would you be kind and read aloud the parts where Madame Umbridge declares the implication of Minister Fudge?"

The young woman nodded and started to read aloud the start of the declaration of Umbridge, in which she had told about what they had been doing to undermine the public's credibility on Dumbledore and Harry during last year.

"Before anybody tries to deny these accusations," Dumbledore declared, "the defendant declared under the effect of Veritaserum, and various witnesses confirmed nearly every detail of the declaration. Does anybody here want to say something before we start with the protocol?"

A man who was sitting on the back of the right half rose and started to talk.

"I am Andrew Silas Crofton, the Head of the Crofton Family. Minister Fudge has served well this country for nearly six years, and has maintained peace during his term of office. Why should he be fired now? Isn't this just a way of getting revenge on him after you left the leadership of both the Wizengamot and the International Confederation of Wizards, and lately your position as Hogwarts' Headmaster, Dumbledore?"

While Harry was explained, in a very low voice, that Crofton was an old friend and business partner of Fudge from before the election of the latter as Minister, the man that Harry thought was Neville's great uncle stood up.

"I will answer you."

"And who are you?" Crofton said, in a derogatory tone.

"I am Algerie Alexander Longbottom, Head of the House of Longbottom. I think that Minister Fudge should not be allowed to keep directing the Ministry because he has been lying to the nation for more than a year. It has been demonstrated that he used his power to run Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter's names down, with his pressures on the press and the forced presence of Madame Umbridge in Hogwarts in the obvious and clear purpose of spying at the school. Then he used the laws in his favour to put Madame Umbridge in a position that gave her the possibility to overrule every aspect of the school, in an insolent display of paranoia and complete lack of respect for two people who were saying the truth from the start. Finally, his big incompetence has made our position in the war against You-Know-Who very difficult, because the nation is in shortage of resources for the fight. Do you really think anybody will still believe him even if we don't kick him out of office?" Finishing, Algerie sat down among the claps of nearly all the people of the right wing of the semicircle and some from the other side.

Crofton, red in anger, sat down too, unable to counter the comments of the other man. Fudge was about to faint, because it was fairly obvious that the number of people that seemed to support Algerie Longbottom's words were more than half, and it was only required half plus one of the total votes to expel him.

"Silence, please," Dumbledore said, in a serious tone. When silence was made, he continued, "Thank you very much, Mr. Crofton and Mr. Longbottom, for sharing your opinions with the other Heads. Now, we have to welcome the people who have become Heads of their families since our last meeting. Who stands for the House of Black?" he asked, in a commanding voice. Sirius stood up.

"I, Sirius Orion Black, true heir of the Black Family, hereby claim my post as the Head of the House of Black."

"Thank you, Mr. Black. Your claim is accepted. Who stands for the House of Potter?" Dumbledore asked.

Harry rose, nervously.

"I won't accept this!" Crofton yelled. "This boy can not be accepted as one of the Magical Heads! He is still a minor, and I want him expelled from this court!"

"Mr. Crofton, your opinion doesn't count when it comes to choose the Head of a House; that can only be done by the Heirlooms' Book, and it already accepted him as the Head of the House of Potter," the Headmaster said in a calm but angry voice. "I would like you to remain quiet or I will have _you_ expelled for your lack of courtesy towards Mr. Potter." That made Crofton sit down again, but it didn't stop him from throwing death glares towards Harry and Dumbledore.

The Headmaster then nodded at the young man, who opened his mouth then, "I, Harry James Potter, true heir of the Potter family, hereby claim my post as the Head of the House of Potter."

"Thank you, Mr. Potter. Your claim is accepted. Who stands for the House of MacCallister?"

There were a few more people who had not been in the last meeting of the Heads. Draco Malfoy was the last one to claim his post, and after that the voting started.

"I will ask all of you for an answer for this question: should Minister for Magic Cornelius Oswald Fudge be expelled from office, aye or no? Mr. O'Flaherty?"

"Aye."

Dumbledore kept asking people from the upper to the lower seats. Harry, Mr. Weasley and Sirius said 'Aye' too. Harry was counting in his mind how much votes they had, and how much the others had. At first, the 'Aye' was being voted by lots of people, but when they were reaching to the end, Harry noticed with that the 'No' was starting to reach the 'Aye' and then surpassed it.

The result was going one hundred and sixty to one hundred and fifty-eight against the 'Aye', and there were only two people who hadn't voted yet.

"Mr. Bowen?"

"Aye."

"Mr. Malfoy?"

The silence that followed the question was eternal. _We are doomed_, Harry thought. _Malfoy will never support Dumbledore, and with Fudge still in office everything will be thousands of times more difficult._

Malfoy stood up, and simply said, "Aye."

This silence was even more awkward than the one before. _What? Malfoy just said 'Aye'?_, Harry asked himself, but there was no need of getting worried. The tie between the two options was clear.

"The final voting is one-hundred and sixty to one-hundred and sixty. A tie has been produced. In my position as the Chief of the Wizengamot, I am able to break a tie when one is produced, and my answer is 'Aye' to the Vote of No Confidence. Mr. Fudge, you are not our Minister anymore. Thank you for your services to the magical community of Great Britain."

Fudge left the room, defeated, while everybody clapped gently to his exit. Then Dumbledore rose again. "Now, we need to appoint possible candidates for the elections to succeed Cornelius Fudge as Minister for Magic. Who do you suggest?"

Mr. Weasley rose and said; "I appoint Amelia Susan Bones, current Head of the Magical Law Enforcement Department, as a candidate for the post of Minister."

"Thank you, Mr. Weasley. More candidates?"

The man who was sitting next to Crofton said; "I appoint Andrew Crofton, Head of the House of Crofton, as a candidate for the post of Minister."

"Thank you, Mr. Burke. More candidates?"

Nobody talked this time.

"Very well. For the next seven days, the appointments for Minister will be open, and after that the official candidates for the elections will be shown. Session dismissed."

Nearly everybody left the room, chatting among themselves, except Harry, Sirius, Mr. Weasley, Dumbledore and Malfoy. Dumbledore talked a bit with Malfoy and then gave him a Portkey which made him disappear. Then the old man went towards the other three and tried to start a conversation, but Harry interrupted him.

"What is Draco Malfoy doing here?"

Dumbledore sighed sadly, regretting the bitter tone in Harry's voice when talking about Malfoy, but answered him anyway.

"The day Mr. Malfoy arrived home after healing from his… _confrontation_… with you and your friends in the Hogwarts Express, Mrs. Narcissa Malfoy called me by the Floo Network and told me about what Voldemort had planned for her son: apparently, he was going to be sent to Hogwarts on the main purpose of killing me. She didn't want her son to be in that danger and we discussed shortly what should be done, and she agreed that both of them would be in danger unless they were in a safe place. I suggested for them to come to Hogwarts, and she accepted.

"Half an hour after that, Mr. Malfoy arrived by a Portkey and we chatted about a few things. He had overheard a few minutes ago a conversation between Voldemort and his aunt Bellatrix Lestrange around the subject of what had happened in the Ministry, and Voldemort sent her in the mission of kidnapping one of your friends. Before you say something, you should remember that we couldn't find Miss Granger because it was impossible to get into contact with her or her parents.

"Well, a few minutes after I went out of my office to tell everybody about the state of things, Mrs. Malfoy arrived, badly injured due to the great deal of curses she had been between her son's arrival and her escape from Malfoy Manor. She has been recovering all this month, and woke up just two or three days ago, but she still is in the hospital wing."

"And why was he here?"

"You should know the answer to that, Harry. With his father in Azkaban, and his mother hospitalized, he is the only person in the Malfoy family that was able to come here. And, for why he has voted in favour, I think that now he does not intend to support Voldemort."

"Are you sure? I mean, how do you know that he is not trying to spy on you?"

"Mainly because the only thing he does lately is stay with his mother. He told me, the first night after they arrived, that his mother told him about the 'pleasures' of being a Death Eater – being that the reason why he does not desire to be one - and even that he would like to work at your orders in the D.A."

Harry was astonished. It should have happened something really big so that Malfoy changed sides as fast as he had. And he wanted to join the _D.A._! Nobody would believe him, especially Ron, but he knew he would have to tell them.

"Can I tell my friends? I'm sure they would like to know about this sudden change in Draco Malfoy, so that they are not surprised this year."

"I strongly recommend you to do it, but I ask you not to tell anybody who is not among your friends. This kind of information in the wrong ears could be disastrous.

"But this is no time to keep talking about this. Didn't we have to go to Gringotts, so that you could have a look at that vault of yours?"

"Um, yeah, you are right. Sirius, would you like to come with us? Since you are my guardian, I would love that you were there." Then he looked at Mr. Weasley, without knowing what to say, but the latter laughed.

"Don't worry for me, Harry. I'm curious about that vault of yours, but I start working in a quarter an hour and, even if I didn't have to, I believe that it would be easier to visit your vault with less people. Albus and Sirius will protect you well."

"Thanks, Mr. Weasley," Harry said, with a genuine smile, and shook his hand.

Dumbledore was creating a Portkey with a quill he had pulled out of his pocket, and soon he said it was time to go.

"OK. We'll see you at Sirius', Mr. Weasley."

"Have fun, Harry."

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"Vault number 3," Griphook said.

The three men had arrived at Gringotts Bank a quarter an hour ago, and they had asked to have a look at one of the three securest vaults in the building. Then Harry had surprised everybody by requesting the help of Griphook, saying he still remembered him from the first time he had visited the bank, five years ago. The said goblin was delighted, because – like he was explaining to Harry while the cart took them to the vault – in normal circumstances only a high rank goblin would be allowed to open that door, and he felt honoured.

"Mr. Potter, give me the key and put your hand in that sphere on the door of the vault," Griphook instructed.

Harry was surprised at that request, but he thought it had to be one of the security measures of the vault. While he put the hand on the blue sphere, Griphook introduced the key in the lock and turned it.

"Now, say your name loud and clear."

"Harry James Potter," the young man said. Then the door opened majestically. Harry was astonished.

At the back of the room, four big banners that represented the four Houses of Hogwarts, presided the place. Below them, stood various weapons and armours of incredible high quality. A big table was placed in the middle of the room, with a big book and a hand-written letter. On the sides, lots of books of all subjects stood in shelves, perfectly clean. On the floor, below the shelves, lots of trunks with mountains of gold and jewels were opened and shining.

"Damn, Harry," Sirius said in a mocking tone. "You are filthy rich!"

Dumbledore was walking to the shelves and having a look at the books in the shelves. "These books are really old, and some of them were thought to be lost forever."

Harry thought that he should read the letter, because, if this was from one of the founders, it could be of big importance. He sat down in the chair and took the parchment. At first, the handwriting and the words were illegible, but soon everything changed and Harry started to read the letter.

_My most dearest and powerful Heir, _

_I am Godric Gryffindor, one of your ancestors. It has been nearly one thousand years since my demise and the demise of all my friends, but do not grieve for us, please, because we are long dead and surely we are now used to the place where we go after our deaths. _

_I alone remain from the eight friends that went to the Scotland hills to build what we wanted to be the best place for young wizards to stay and learn to control their magic in the moment of writing this letter. _

_Salazar, my most dearest friend until the fight about who should be accepted in the school – he only wanted to accept wizards and witches from families who didn't have Muggles in their families, while Helga, Rowena and I wanted to accept everybody who had magical abilities – was the first to die, a few years after leaving the school; we found him in a forest in the south-west of England, and we took him back to our school to bury him. His wife, Selena, who had remained with us, died shortly after him, because of the pain she had been suffering since his departure. _

_The next was Rowena's husband, Renard, whose heart stopped while sleeping in his bed, ten years after Salazar and Selena died. Another ten years later, my dear wife Gabrielle, alongside with Helga and Hale, died in a cart accident while trying to find a young wizard who lived in the south of Wales. _

_For six years, Rowena and I remained, teaching our pupils with the help of older pupils who had excelled in their work while studying in this Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft, the place we wanted to use as the refuge for wizards of all ages and a place for the youngest to know how to control their magic. _

_It's been nearly three years since my dear friend Rowena died peacefully, and I feel my end is near. _

_There is something only Helga, Rowena, Salazar and I know, and it is the reason why we fought about the origins of our pupils: two years before Salazar departure, a strong and powerful Seer told us she had foreseen the future, and she said a few sentences that will never leave my mind, because they were the cause of our separation: _

_"Long after the Four remain Three, a millennium after the Four were born, when the darkness invades the planet, a Chosen One, son of the Four, will raise, and with his companions the Four again will be back..." _

_The reason why Salazar wanted only people without Muggle relatives was that he thought a person's blood and magic would be tainted if a Muggle was part of his family, and that when his descendants went to school, he wanted this Chosen One to be a person with pure blood, but Helga, Rowena and I argued with him, saying that he could see now that people with Muggle relatives were sometimes more powerful than people without them. Salazar didn't want to see that and that was the reason he left. _

_My dear friend Gultank, who is the Gringotts Chief in this moment, has promised me that no Gringotts Chief will allow this vault to be opened unless the Chosen One, the person who descends from us, is able to understand which his powers are. _

_Now, my young heir, I suggest you to look at the book; which unquestionably, will still be in this same table, at your left. This book is a compilation of every item which is held in this room, and also will tell you what the books in the shelves talk about. _

_However, the most important are the weapons and armours which should be right behind you. These are the weapons and armours that my seven friends and I had to use in our life, when we had to save a wizard from the attack of furious and zealous Muggles or had to defend ourselves in the middle of our travels. There are eight weapons and armours, which correspond to Gabrielle, Helga, Hale, Rowena, Renard, Salazar, Selena and me. I won't tell you whose is each one, but if the prophecy is true, you will know instinctively which of your friends will have to take each of the weapons. When you have found your seven companions, a tricky piece of magic will be released, but do not fear, my heir, because it will help you in your fight against the darkness. _

_Sincerely, I hope you manage to overrule the evil in the planet. _

_Yours faithfully, _

_Godric Gryffindor _

_November 25th 1069 A.D._

Harry had read with interest the whole letter, and when he finished, he saw that Albus Dumbledore was looking with interest at him.

"You won't believe this, but this letter was written by Gryffindor himself."

Dumbledore was amazed at this piece of information and ran to where Harry was sitting. Harry gave him the letter, and Dumbledore looked at it.

"Harry, I can't read this. It has a charm so that only someone who descends from the founders can read it," he said, giving it back to the young man.

Harry was surprised at this, but in spite of it he started to look at the book which had, according to the letter, the index of all the things that where in the vault.

First thing he did was to look at the weapons. From left to right, there were a shield and a sheath; a staff with a snake around it; another staff with an orb in the extreme; two short swords; an axe; a bow with some arrows in a quiver; a wooden flute, and some daggers. Behind them, eight armours stood.

According to the book, the armours were made of a strange metal called mithril, which was supposedly as hard as dragon scales and as light as feathers. It would protect you from physical injuries and from lots of spells, although it also recommended that the user moved on the battle camp as if he hadn't the armour, because normally dodging a curse is more efficient than trying to stop it with a shield.

Harry realised there was something strange when he looked at the book to read a description of the weapons; alongside with the shield, there should be a sword, but it was out of sight. He took the sheath then, and he made a possible connection; he took his shrunk special trunk out of his pocket, enlarged it, and started to search for the sword of Godric Gryffindor, the one he had extracted from the Sorting Hat in his second year. When he found it, he took it out of the trunk and sheathed the sword. It fitted perfectly.

"These must be the founders' weapons, from when they had to battle on their own and couldn't use magic." Sirius had been watching Harry while he was looking at the weapons, and his commentary made the younger man smile.

"Yes. That's what Gryffindor wrote in his letter. He said that the four founders and their spouses used them lots of times. The letter reveals too why Slytherin separated himself from the other Founders." He summed everything he had read on the letter to both adults; including the prophecy his four ancestors had been told.

"There is something I have realised about this prophecy," Sirius said, reflecting.

"I think I have seen it too, Sirius," Dumbledore said, smiling.

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked, confused.

"Well, I think I should explain you this," Dumbledore replied. "Do you remember how we discussed the Prophecy about you last year, in my office?"

Harry nodded, blushing a bit when he remembered the smashing he had caused that day; he had just lost Sirius and he couldn't stop himself from breaking the Professor possessions.

"I also told you how Voldemort heard about the Prophecy, too. But, do you think he would have done anything if he hadn't heard about it?"

The young man reflected, and after a few minutes he understood why: if the spy hadn't been in the Hog's Head when Trelawney had made the Prophecy, it would have never reached Voldemort's ears and then he wouldn't have had tried to kill him when he was one year old.

"This prophecy falls into the same category, which is usually called among the Muggles as 'full-filling prophecies'. Those are the kind of prophecies that are fulfilled because the people it affected acted in the way that made sure the prophecy was fulfilled. Now, do you think Salazar Slytherin would have left the school and his friends if they hadn't been told the prophecy?"

"No, sir," Harry replied.

"Exactly. Now, to change the subject, what do you plan to do with the weapons?" Dumbledore asked.

"I know it can sound strange, but I have the feeling that I have to give them to my friends. Not all of them, of course, but instinctively I know that each of these weapons belong to one of my friends. For example," he said, pointing at the sword he was holding, "this one is mine, and it stands for Bravery"

"Nice one, kiddo," Sirius said, laughing.

Harry smiled and continued. "The staff with the snake is Ginny's, because it is the symbol of the Healers; the other staff is for Luna, since that orb is a mention to her Foresight Ability; the double swords are Neville's, for Agility; the axe is for Ron, and it means Force; the bow and arrows are for Hermione, which stands for Accuracy…" Harry stopped talking, with a confused look.

"And the last two?" Dumbledore asked.

"I have no idea who these are for," Harry recognised. "I only get a very blurred image of them. I can tell that the flute is Fellowship and the daggers are Cunning, but I don't know who the designed person for them is. Maybe I'll know it when I come back to Hogwarts."

"Maybe. What are you going to do, then?" Sirius asked.

"I'll take them, and I'll tell my friends about the weapons, but I won't give them to them until I know who the other two people are."

"Wise decision. If there is a charm that will activate when all the weapons are used by your seven friends, it'll be better when the eight of you are reunited."

"Anyway, have you seen some interesting book in the shelves?"

"Yes, Harry. I have found three books in Parseltongue, two with ancient and powerful spells and even a journal with Crafted spells, probably Ravenclaw's," Dumbledore said.

"I have here another book about Parseltongue, one on Occlumency and Legilimency, other with ward charms like the Fidelius and, you won't believe it, one about all the secrets of Hogwarts," Sirius said, smiling.

"Wow! Let me have a look!" Harry said, impressed. He read a bit of the book Sirius had handed him and grinned. "This is fantastic! It explains how the Founders built Hogwarts, with all the secret passages and rooms, how the stairs work, even how they managed to create the Room of Requirement!"

"I expect you will use it well, Harry. I wouldn't like you to get advantage on the fact that with that book you would know how to get around with your occasional rule-breaking," the Headmaster said, his eyes twinkling in an amused glance.

"Don't worry, I'll only use it to sneak to the kitchen," Harry joked, laughing.

"I think we should get going," Sirius said, watching his clock. "Molly must be asking herself where we are by now."

"You are right, Sirius," Harry said, putting all the books the adults had shown him into the trunk alongside with the weapons and armours and the letter Godric Gryffindor had written to him. When he closed the trunk and shrunk it, he declared that he was ready to go.

"Good. I'll accompany you to Grimmauld Place and then I'll go back to Hogwarts to check on Mr. Malfoy and his mother," Dumbledore said. "I'll tell him you are considering his joining the D.A."

"I'll do it, sir," Harry answered. "If he is really willing to be part of our group, I'll be the first to welcome him."

"That'll be good. As the Sorting Hat always reminds us, we have to do something to improve inter-House relations. Maybe this will be the first step into it."

"I'd never thought I'd say this, but I'm glad Malfoy changed like this," Harry spluttered as realization hit him.

"So am I," Sirius said with a smile. "I'd like to see Tonks' face when she hears about her cousin."

"I'd bet she would be a bit freaked," Harry laughed.

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"No way, man!" Ron shouted.

Harry had just told his friends what Dumbledore had said about Malfoy after the Magical Heads Meeting, and Ron had expressed that he couldn't believe it with that sentence.

"I couldn't believe that either, Ron, but he was the one who kicked Fudge out of office with his vote. I mean, he could still be in "Let's support that idiot" mode, but he supported what we wanted. According to Dumbledore, he even wants to join the D.A."

"And what do you think we should do?" Hermione asked.

"I think we should try to give him an opportunity. Nobody with the purpose of betraying us will be able to sign the magical contract I'll prepare."

"We should try to see if any more Slytherins will want to join us," Neville said. "Maybe with Malfoy not being as stupid as he was they will want to be able to defend themselves from You-Know-Who."

"Yeah, you are right, but there are a few from which I'm not sure. For starters, Crabbe and Goyle," Harry replied, reflecting.

"Why?" Ron asked.

"Well, they were his lackeys while he was friends with Voldemort – oh, stop that," Harry said to Neville, Ron and Luna, who had shivered, "but I'm sure that when he hears about Malfoy he will tell Crabbe and Goyle to do something in the way of showing him that not obeying the Dark Lord is a bad idea."

"Theodore Nott will be the same way; his dad is a Death Eater and I doubt his mother will try to save him like Malfoy's mother did with him," Ginny said.

"What do you think about Parkinson and Bulstrode?"

"I believe the latter will be in Voldemort's side, but I'm not sure about Parkinson. She has always been behind Malfoy like a stupid dog, but with him changing sides… Merlin knows," Hermione replied. 

"I'm sure that at least Blaise Zabini and… what is the other girl's name? Greengrass, those two will join alongside with Malfoy. They have always remained neutral in our fights."

"And they have never tried to insult any of us," Neville reminded.

In that moment, someone knocked on the door and opened it.

"Guys?" It was Sirius. "We need you downstairs, Molly says you have to lay the table."

"K, Sirius, we'll be coming down in a matter of seconds," Harry said, standing up. "You coming, guys?"

"Of course," the others said in a chorus.

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Two days later, Harry was going through the Floo to Dumbledore's office. He was a bit nervous today, because it would be the first lesson in elemental magic. The day before, he had managed to control all the spells he had ever learned at school, even the ones he had not been taught in classes, and a few more Dumbledore taught him. He had also managed to improve his first Crafted spells so that he didn't have to say the words or use the wand.

Finally, he landed, but he was getting used to this way of travelling, and he landed without a flaw in the fireplace.

"Good morning, Harry," Dumbledore said.

"Good morning, Professor."

"How are you this morning?"

"Very well, thanks."

"Sherbet?"

Harry accepted the candy with a smile and put it into his mouth.

"Thanks."

After a few seconds of silence, the Headmaster started to talk.

"Well, you know that today I'm going to teach you how to control the elemental magic you have. You will notice that this is similar to wandless magic, but instead of controlling the things, you have to control nature itself. The elemental magic has in reality two different parts. Do you think you can differentiate what those parts are?"

Harry thought for a few minutes and then said, "Well, I think one of those parts should be to control the elements for things in which they act on their own, like starting a fire, making the wind blow… and those kinds of things. But, I can't imagine the other part."

"You have guessed correctly one of them, Harry. You should be able to, for example, create a fire in the palm of your hands without the fire burning you, or create a water stream from nothing.

"But the other part is much more powerful and interesting than the other. You see, in the magical way of seeing things, each element is considered like a whole, a being. For example, all the fires which are lit in the world now are considered part of the being fire.

"People with high levels of magical power, especially when they have the ability of controlling the elements, are able to call some individuals from all the elements."

"Are you able to do that?" Harry asked, with curiosity.

"Yes, Harry, just watch." Dumbledore concentrated for a few seconds and a salamander appeared on the table which was between the two wizards.

"Wow. Is this one of those individuals you were talking about?"

"Yes. This is one of my Fire Dwellers, or guardians of the fire. I can tell you too that I have three of these."

"And what do the others look like?"

Dumbledore smiled and concentrated a bit more. Soon, a snake, a raven and a mole appeared on the table alongside with the salamander.

"The snake is a Water Demon, the raven is an Air Sprite and the mole is an Earth Spirit."

"Are they always like this?" Harry asked.

"No, their forms depend on the person, but they always look like animals. But first of all we should try to help you control the element itself, before you try to call the individuals. Follow me, if you please," he said, standing up.

Harry did the same as Dumbledore, and, following his steps, soon they reached a white door.

"This door leads to a workroom that all the Headmasters of this school have been using since it was founded. We can work here without problems of any kind, since the walls have ancient protective spells that absorb the magical energy of the spells.

"Please, stand in the middle of the room while I prepare the ritual needed to wake up the elements."

Harry went to the middle point of the room, and watched how Professor Dumbledore conjured four tables; which he put in the four corners of the room. When the young man looked at the floor, he saw a compass rose, and he noticed that the four cardinal points were exactly in the corners of the room. When Dumbledore put up some banners, he couldn't help but notice that each banner had the colours of each house: the one in the south should be Gryffindor, because it was red and gold; on the north stood the green and silver banner, Slytherin; the one in the east was blue and silver, so it had to be Ravenclaw; and the one in the west had to be Hufflepuff, which was yellow and gold.

"As I think you have noticed, these banners have the same colours as the houses. Well, these colours also represent each one of the elements: fire," he said, pointing at the south, "water," at the north, "air," at the east, "and earth," at the west.

"Now you just have to sit down in the middle of the rose, on the point where the diagonals cross, looking at the north." When Harry sat down in that point, Dumbledore said; "You don't have to do anything, just close your eyes and I'll do the ritual to wake up your elemental powers. Are you ready?"

"Yes."

Dumbledore started to chant in a strange language that Harry hadn't ever heard of, but he suspected it should be something in Latin, the language that was usually used for the spells, because he could understand a few words that were in some charms he had learned, and even one that he used for his Alarm Clock Spell, _Evigilare_.

Five minutes had passed, and Dumbledore was still chanting. Harry was starting to get bored when he felt something flowing from his back, which was looking at the south. It felt like a big wave of heat, but he didn't react to it in any way, because although he could feel it, he wasn't hot. Then from the north something like a torrent of water arrived, refreshing him and fighting with the wave of heat.

The next thing was from the east, and it consisted of a fast blowing wind that was soon countered by a great mountain of earth; which also fought against the air. That lasted for a few seconds, which Harry thought should be normal.

Suddenly, everything stopped. The young wizard tried to open his eyes, but he couldn't do it, in fact he couldn't move. He didn't know why this was happening now, but then he felt like he was being stretched and compressed a few times, but a force he was feeling inside him was comforting and protecting him and his body.

Soon, everything was finished, and Dumbledore was helping him to stand up.

"Are you OK, Harry?" he asked, worried.

"Not very well, Professor," Harry answered. "I feel dizzy, and the last thing didn't help a lot."

"Which last thing?" the old man asked.

"Well, in the end I felt like if everything stopped or froze, I'm not sure of that. Then it was a strange feeling like something was compressing my body."

Dumbledore had a strange look in his face. "That's not very usual. In fact, nobody I have seen to do this has ever felt anything like that."

"What do you think that means?" Harry asked, quizzically.

"I have to say that I don't know, but those could be the clues of which the two elements we don't know are," Dumbledore replied.

"Well, if only we knew what they are, I would be able to control them," Harry said.

"Indeed, Harry. But, for the moment, we will start with what we know. I believe we should start with fire. Since you are a Gryffindor, it should be the easiest one to practice." Dumbledore then conjured a stack of wood in the middle of the room. "Do you remember how you did your wandless magic?" When Harry nodded, the older man said, "Well, this is similar but different to. You just have to concentrate the magic in your hands, like with the wandless, but instead of thinking of a spell, you just have to imagine that the wood is burning. Give it a try, Harry."

Harry prepared himself for the test, and when he felt that he was ready, he thought of the stack being on fire. Unfortunately, what he intended to be a warm bonfire was changed into a big fire that nearly reduced all the wood into ashes.

"Don't worry, Harry, it is normal that they go a bit out of control at first," Dumbledore said, chuckling. "Try to control it, you just have to know how much magic you need to use in it."

Soon, the bonfire was burning happily in the centre of the room, but since they were in the middle of the summer, Harry started to feel very hot.

"Well done, Harry. Now, try to turn it off completely, but using another element, like water."

Harry concentrated again on his magic, and tried to create a bit of rain over the fire, but his power went out of control again and suddenly the whole roof of the room was filled with black clouds that soon started to discharge a strong rain over the two occupants of the room. Dumbledore, laughing, started to dance while singing _I'm Singing in the Rain_, which sent Harry into fits of laughter.

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I expect you have liked it, and don't forget to review. Next stop, 'Harry's Birthday'!


	11. Harry's Birthday

Chapter 11  
Harry's Birthday

Harry woke up startled.

It was eight o'clock in the morning, and the sun was shining outside of the house, illuminating Harry's room through the window. But it wasn't the sun which had woken Harry up, not even a nightmare – he hadn't had a nightmare since that day he had talked with Ginny about the one with the Veil -, it had been a gorgeous red-haired girl who had decided that the best way to wake him was throwing herself over him and starting to kiss him deeply in the mouth. At first, Harry thought it was some kind of fantastic dream he was having in that moment, and he unconsciously replied like if it was real, but when he put his arms around her back, the girl giggled, and that woke the boy definitively.

"Gin?" Harry asked, smiling.

"Good morning, sleepyhead," Ginny replied with a grin.

"Good morning, gorgeous."

"Happy birthday, Harry," she said, kissing him again.

"Thanks," he said when they separated.

"You should get into the shower, you know," Ginny said, giggling. "The sooner you do that, the more things you'll be able to do in your day."

"Mmmm. Do you really know what I would want to do?" he asked, seductively.

"I can imagine, but you'd better go to the shower or you won't be able to do anything," she replied, standing up and helping Harry to do the same.

"Right, milady," he answered with a bow, taking his bathrobe and slippers and going out of his bedroom, not without Ginny patting his bottom, playfully.

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The day passed quickly, but not without having a good time with his friends, his godfather Sirius and Remus, who was going to stay the whole day in the house. He knew that night there would be a party, Harry's first ever birthday party, and that was why all the teenagers were shooed out to their bedrooms right after lunch while the adults and Dobby – who had Apparated in the house a few days ago, sending Hermione in a rant about how house-elves should be free and have clothes until Harry showed her that Dobby was wearing clothes and didn't behave like a slave, which calmed her a bit – decorated the living room so that it could hold everything for the party.

But tonight it was also Neville's birthday party. Harry had asked them to remember that, since Neville was born one day before him and Harry didn't want his friend to feel left out. Neville would also get lots of presents, but that wouldn't happen until the party started.

Finally, everybody was ready to have fun that night, especially teasing both boys a little about them growing up.

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The big surprise for Harry was seeing that Dumbledore, McGonagall and Flitwick were attending the party, something that he liked a lot because they were his favourite permanent professors – Remus was still his favourite, but only being one year at the post didn't include him in the permanent category.

"Happy birthday, Mr. Potter," McGonagall said when she entered the room, which had been decorated nearly completely with gold and red banners. "And happy birthday, Mr. Longbottom,"

"Thanks, Professor," both teenagers said.

"Well," Mrs. Weasley said, beaming from ear to ear, "what do you want to do first? Open your presents or the cake?"

"Presents!" The twins shouted at the same time.

"What do you think, Neville?" Harry asked.

"I think we should listen to the twins. That would be better for us and for Ron's sake, before he starts to complain about being hungry."

Everybody in the room laughed, even Ron, who was combining the laugh with red ears.

The first package Harry opened was the twins' one. It had a whole set of WWW merchandising, a few prototypes – "So that you can test them," they said, grinning – and some documents that certified Harry was partly owner of the shop. Neville got the same as Harry, but without the certificate of ownership.

Harry also got some Honeydukes' chocolate and sweets from Ron and a version of _Hogwarts: a History_ from Hermione. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had given him the usual hand-knitted jumper and something that looked like a spoon, but Harry smiled when he was told it was a hand for the Grandfather's clock they had brought to Grimmauld Place. Bill and Charlie had sent a note saying they weren't going to be able to join them, but they had sent presents for both teenagers: Charlie some boots made of dragon skin – Harry's were black, like the Hungarian Horntail he had defeated in his fourth year, and Neville's were green – and Bill a very useful book on lots of curses he had found in all the caves he had visited during his work, which Harry vowed to have a good look at as soon as he could. Hagrid, the first wizard Harry had met, couldn't come, because he was on a mission for the Order, but he was able too to send something: Harry received a book on how to raise phoenixes – he remembered the letter Dumbledore had sent him – and Neville got an incredibly real wood carving of Trevor, his toad.

Neville and his Grandmother gave him a book on magical plants – "Although you aren't going to have Herbology, it can be useful," Neville told him – and Luna gave him a two-year free subscription to _The Quibbler_, which he thought it could be a good fountain of fun, since he knew this year would be difficult.

He had left Dumbledore's and Ginny's presents to be opened last. He was stunned to see that Sirius and Remus hadn't gave him anything, but he supposed they had something planned by the look of their faces.

First he opened Dumbledore and McGonagall's present, and it was surprising: they had given him a Pensieve, a stone basin that was enchanted so that you could save your thoughts inside it and have a look at them whenever you wanted to. Harry had had some experiences with it, since he had been in Dumbledore's Pensieve once in his fourth year and another time in Snape's, last year.

"Wow!" Hermione said. "Those are meant to be very rare."

"Indeed, Ms. Granger," Dumbledore said, smiling. "I'm sure that Harry will find this present very useful to store his thoughts when he needs to make connections. You don't have to worry, Harry; the instructions on how to use it are inside that box."

Harry thanked him profusely.

"Well, Harry," Ginny said, a bit shyly, "I know that my present isn't as great as that, but I expect you will like mine."

Harry opened it and smiled deeply: it was a photo album of all the people that were important to him; there was a photograph with his friends, another one of Ginny, individual photos of all the Weasley family, a group photograph… it was so fantastic that he nearly started to cry, but he instead hugged his girlfriend with an intensity that surprised everybody.

"Thanks, Ginny, this means a lot to me."

Neville still had two more presents to open, Harry's and Luna's.

"Wow, Harry! Thanks!" Neville said, while pulling out a strange plant with a book.

"It's a South African Geedle," Harry said. "It's supposed to be very rare, and the book talks about it so that you can take care of it without a problem."

Luna gave Neville a medallion made of what Harry thought was real gold.

'So that you can keep your best thoughts in here,' the accompanying note said. Neville smiled and kissed her on her cheek, not without blushing a bit.

"OK, everybody," Sirius said, attracting the attention of the attendants. "My present to the boys is in the back garden, since it's not very easy to unwrap it in this tiny room, so I would like you to go there so you can have a good look."

Mrs. Weasley led Harry and Neville to where Sirius had pointed, but when they arrived there, it was completely empty.

"Don't worry, lads," Sirius said, chuckling at the surprised faces of the birthday boys. "Just come here, Harry, and put your hand where I have my hand now."

Harry did as he was told. "I feel like a piece of cloth, very soft."

"Pull it."

Harry pulled the cloth and his jaw fell in surprise. Under it, there was a motorcycle, big, shiny and – from what Harry could tell – incredibly powerful.

"This is your old flying motorcycle!" he said, grinning.

"Exactly. Harley-Davidson Sportsters Ironhead 1979 1000cc. Of course, I managed to make it fly with a few touches on the motor. It has never failed me when I used it."

"No? Don't you remember that on Harry's first birthday you nearly fell down of it in the middle of an acrobatics?" Remus said, laughing.

"Hey! I was trying to impress my godson here, but he couldn't keep his eyes opened long enough to watch me doing all that!" Sirius replied. "Neville, don't think we have left you out." Sirius pulled another cloth, and a motorcycle which was nearly identical to the old one of Sirius' appeared. "I had to look like mad to find one of these. It's practically the same model, but its owner made a few cover designs of its own."

"Incredible, mate!" Ron said, a bit jealous of what he had seen his friends get.

"Who's to say I only brought two bikes?" Sirius asked, showing Ron a third bike, the same model too, but with small differences on the cover.

"And," Tonks said, with three packages, "Remus and I have found the perfect complements for those." The Metamorphmagus threw each package to each of the three boys. Harry and Ron caught them while they were still in the air, thanks to their reflexes, but Neville got hit in the head with it. Everybody laughed at this, Neville the most.

Inside each package, there was a black leather jacket; which suited each of them perfectly. In the back, there was a sign which said: 'MAGIC ROCKS!' It was empty apart from that, but Tonks said it should be easy for them to put something that could mean anything they wanted.

"Be careful if you have that at Hogwarts, boys," Sirius warned them in an amused tone. "The combination of the jacket and the bike attracts chicks like light attracts moths."

"I like this!" Ron said, laughing. "What do you think, 'Mione?"

The girl in question was practically drooling at the sight of her boyfriend in that leather jacket that fitted his huge body so perfectly she could swear the muscles were showing through them.

"I'd take that as a yes," Harry said, smiling. "Don't worry, Ginny, I'll wear this only when I am alone with you."

"Well said, Potter," Ginny replied, unconsciously wetting her lips, which had gone dry in a heartbeat.

"Let's go inside!" Mrs. Weasley commanded. "These boys have to blow out the candles."

"Hear, hear!" Ron said, smiling.

In the living room, there were two big cakes; one, which had Neville's name and the other, had Harry's.

"Who goes first? Or are the two of you doing it at the same time?" Mrs. Weasley asked, lighting the candles with a touch of her wand.

"Neville," Harry said fast. "Since his birthday was yesterday, he should be the first."

"Thanks, Harry," Neville said.

"Just think on something you want and blow strong!" One of the twins shouted.

Neville closed his eyes, took a lot of air and then all the candles were out at once.

"Well done, Neville!" everybody said.

"It's your turn, Harry," Ginny said.

Harry nodded, and closed his eyes to think on what he would like: he desired to see that Voldemort was dead, everybody in the room was still alive at the end of the war and Ginny and him were married and had one or two children. He took a lot of air, but in the moment he was going to release it, his scar started to tickle in a very well known way.

_No… not now…_, he thought, but it was too late. Soon, waves of unbearable pain ran through him and he felt he was fainting. The last thing he could hear was someone shouting his name in a very worried voice…

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"HARRY! HARRY!" Ginny shouted. She had been very happy for the last half an hour: watching your boyfriend have his first real birthday party, and seeing him having fun like a child had no price, especially when one counted that those damned Dursleys had never given him a proper present.

But now all of that was forgotten. In the very instant before he could blow the candles, Harry moved his hand to his forehead with a pained expression and fell to the floor, where he started to roll in pain.

"The scar," Ron said, worried. "You-Know-Who must be really pissed off today."

"Yeah," Hermione replied, kneeling near her best friend. "It was time Voldemort appeared for the party," she said sarcastically.

Ginny's eyes were starting to wet due to the tears that were warning to flood from her eyes. "Damn, Tom, why did you have to do this now?" she whispered, while trying to show Harry some comfort by caressing his hair.

Dumbledore took charge of the situation in a matter of seconds: he conjured a stretcher and put Harry on it. "Please, someone fill a bucket with cold water and find some towels. I believe that will help to ease the pain."

"I'll do it, Albus," Mrs. Weasley said, conjuring a bucket and filling it.

"Thanks, Molly. I'm going to take him to his bedroom. Does anybody want to stay with him?"

"Me," Ginny, Sirius, Remus, Ron, Hermione, Neville and Luna said at the same time.

Dumbledore smiled. "I don't think everybody will be able to stay in that room. Ms. Weasley and Sirius will do great. Don't worry, the others, I'm not leaving you out, but they are the ones who will surely have more success with bringing Harry out of his vision."

"OK." Everyone muttered together, resigning themselves to the fact that they weren't going with Harry.

The two older men and the girl went upstairs with Harry's writhing body floating near them. When they put him on the bed, Dumbledore whispered in Harry's ear, "Harry, I don't know if you can hear me, but please, raise your shields, they will stop the pain."

Then he told the other two, "Sirius, Ms. Weasley, make sure that the towel on his forehead is always wet and cold. And keep talking to him. The sound of your voice will bring him out of his unconsciousness, especially yours, Ms. Weasley," he added with a small chuckle.

"What are you going to do, Albus?" Sirius asked, concerned.

"I do believe that the young Mr. Weasley and Ms. Granger are going to face lots of questions from the adults in the living room. I'm going to help them to answer everything."

Sirius nodded and immersed one of the tea towels he had brought into the bucket Molly had filled a few minutes ago. Then he put the towel on his godson's forehead, and apparently it calmed him a bit. "Come on, you can do it, kiddo. You are strong, and you can overcome whatever you face."

Ginny was now openly crying, so much that the jeans she was wearing were staining a bit, but she only cared about the boy who had filled her heart since she saw him nearly five years ago in King's Cross. "Please, Harry, wake up. You know I love you, and I know you love me, please follow my voice, and come to me… please…"

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"CRUCIO!"

The shouts of hurt filled the room. They came from a black-haired woman who was now writhing in the middle of the room Harry was pointing at with a wand that was not his. After a few minutes, he lifted the wand and asked in a hissing voice: "Are you, Bella, my most faithful Death Eater, saying that not only you failed in your mission, but you let one of Potter's friends escape when you had her?"

Bellatrix Lestrange slowly kneeled in front of him. "I had gone for the Mudblood, I had trapped her, she didn't have her wand, and there were the best anti-Apparition and anti-Portkey shields…"

"But she escaped. Have you managed to know how she did that?"

The Death Eater shook her head, scared.

"You know what that means, no? CRUCIO!"

The Death Eater fell again to the floor, writhing in pain, until Harry raised the wand.

"Go out, and tell Snape to come in." Lestrange went out of the room at a very slow pace, the result of her aching body.

Then Harry heard, distinctively, someone talking to him. He couldn't understand half the words, but he managed to hear two words: _… your shields…_

Harry reminded himself this was Voldemort's body, not his, and that it was a vision. He concentrated on repairing his Occlumency shields the best he could do. In that very moment, the Potions master entered with his head down.

"Ah, Snape, my faithful spy within Hogwarts," Voldemort said. "What is the news about young Malfoy and his mother?"

"My Lord," Snape said, bowing, "Malfoy arrived at Hogwarts three days after the end of the year. His mother followed him, but was badly hurt because of some Death Eaters which were staying outside the Manor and didn't recognise her. She has been recovering slowly from her injuries, and young Malfoy has not left her during the whole month."

"Ah, interesting. Maybe we should make him pay a visit to us…"

"It would be very difficult, my Lord. I have never been able to be alone with him, mainly because he suspects I would send him straight to you."

"I'll see what Lucius says the day after tomorrow when I tell him his own son has disobeyed me. Maybe he can come up with an idea about what to do."

"I beg your pardon, my Lord?"

"In two days time, the Dementors will rebel against the Ministry. We'll use that moment to free all my faithful Death Eaters from Azkaban."

"What do you want me to do, my Lord?" Snape asked with his head lowered.

"I need you to distract Dumbledore long enough so that he doesn't go to Azkaban; and you need to stop him from hearing about it."

"I'll do my best, my Lord."

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Harry woke up slowly from his vision. He still had a headache, but at least he was conscious and could detect what was happening around him. He could hear Ginny sobbing next to him, while she stroked his hair softly. Sirius was putting a wet towel on his forehead, not saying anything.

He opened his eyes slowly, and saw everything blurred due to his lack of glasses. Then he opened his mouth and said, "Hi."

"Harry!" Ginny said, smiling between her tears. "Are you better?"

"Still have a headache," he replied, massaging his right temple.

"There," Sirius said, handing him a bottle of potion. "It's a headache potion, to stop it without consequences. Minerva brought it from Hogwarts a few minutes ago."

Harry drank the potion and almost instantly his headache disappeared. "Thanks, Sirius," he said smiling. "Could you hand me my glasses, please? I can't see a thing without them."

"Oh, yeah," Ginny said, handing him his round glasses.

"Thanks, Gin," he said, kissing her softly.

"I'll go fetch Albus," Sirius announced. "He asked us to tell him when you woke up."

"OK," Harry said.

A few moments later, the old Headmaster entered the room with a worried face.

"Hello, Harry. May I speak with you?"

"Of course, Professor. Do you mind if Ginny stays?"

Dumbledore reflected for a few seconds and then answered, "Since you are going to tell your friends about what happened, I don't think it matters a lot."

"Well, this is what happened in the vision…"

Harry launched himself into the account of what he had witnessed through Voldemort's eyes, stressing especially the moments where Voldemort was talking about Malfoy and that in two days' time there would be a rebellion of the Dementors. That in particular worried Dumbledore a lot, because a Dementors' rebellion could cause a lot of damage in the country.

"Professor," Harry asked suddenly, "is there a way to destroy a Dementor? I mean, really destroy it and not just scare it away with a Patronus."

"Mmm, I can tell you I haven't ever heard of something like that. I believe the Spell Crafters in the Ministry were developing a jinx that could do that, but when the Ministry arranged Dementors to guard Azkaban, it was filed away and forgotten."

"What about… I don't know… fire?" Harry asked.

"Why would you say that?" Dumbledore asked, confused.

"Well, all the times I have faced a Dementor I've felt coldness at first, and when my Patronus guarded me, it was heat that I felt. Maybe their weak point is fire, and I believe that if someone uses a strong Incendio charm or elemental fire, maybe it would destroy them."

"That has never been tried, but it may be of use. If the Dementors finally rebel as Voldemort said, I'll try to use fire to destroy them. Now, Harry, you will rest, and I'll tell your friends they can come here. If you are fully-rested tomorrow, we'll resume the classes on Elemental Magic."

"Don't worry, sir, I'll be there punctually," Harry replied, laughing.

Dumbledore chuckled and left the room, in which Harry's friends entered a few moments later.

"Oh, Harry!" Hermione said, hugging him. "Are you okay?"

"I can tell you I feel better than five minutes ago, thanks," he replied, returning the hug. "Sorry I spoiled the party, guys."

"Hey, it wasn't your fault," Neville said immediately. "It was You-Know-Who's. The only thing you should care is that you didn't blow out your candles," he continued, hoping to make Harry laugh.

Harry only smiled, but he liked that Neville tried to raise his humour in a moment like this.

"Anyway, we had lots of fun before that, and Mum has used a Freezing Charm over the cakes and you can eat your part when you want to," Ron said.

"I'll have to thank her later."

"You should, Harry. She worked a lot with that; and Dobby too," Ginny said, smiling.

"Do you know where he is?" Harry asked.

"I think he had gone to Hogwarts before the party started. He wanted to visit someone there, I believe it was Winky," Hermione said, smiling.

"I always thought there was something between those two, you know?" Ron answered.

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Two days later, Harry's fear became real: as Voldemort had said, the Dementors rebelled against the Ministry.

"Let's go!" Dumbledore announced when the news had reached him. Everybody in the Order who was able to produce strong Patronuses would go to help the Ministry Aurors in their work to stop the Dementors.

Harry had wanted to go, but Sirius (before the Order members were out) and Mrs. Weasley (_after_ the Order members were out) forbade him to go out of the house completely, practically warning him that he would face a Body-Bind Curse before he could say "Bye". So, Harry had to stay at Grimmauld place, talking with his friends and Hermione's parents and wondering if between the Order and the Aurors had managed to keep all the prisoners inside of Azkaban.

After six hours of waiting, the group Apparated into the hall. They looked much worn, had some dirt and water on their robes and none of them was smiling.

"It's over," Mr. Weasley said, sadly. "Five Death Eaters have escaped. Malfoy, Nott, the Lestrange brothers and Dolohov."

"Plus Madame Umbridge," Shacklebolt added.

"What?" Harry said, angered.

"Apparently, Azkaban has done no good to her, even if she has been just two weeks there. Last report was that she was completely obsessed with you, Harry. They don't know why, but I presume that she thinks it's completely your fault she was there. I'm sure that she now wants to seek revenge on you," Dumbledore explained.

"The only good thing we have managed to get," Sirius said, sipping from his hot chocolate mug, "is that we managed to confirm that fire actually destroys Dementors."

"Wow!" the teenagers said at once.

"How did you manage to do it?" Hermione said; her hyper-curious state activated.

"Harry," Dumbledore said, smiling for the first time. "When he woke up and told me what was going to happen, he suggested that we used fire to destroy them. At first, everybody used only their Patronuses, but when I tested Harry's tip and realised he was right, I commanded the others to use fire. We managed to destroy a few Dementors, but it is really difficult to burn someone, because you have to get practically next to them in order for the Fire Charm to work. Fortunately, nobody was Kissed, but two Aurors and one of our own were very near to it."

"I managed to kill a Dementor who was going to Kiss Hestia Jones," Tonks remembered. "It was a close call."

"Tonks, we should go back to the Ministry, we need to report this as soon as possible," Shacklebolt reminded her. Both Aurors stood up and went to the hall, where they Disapparated.

"Thank God nobody was hurt," Harry whispered.

"Yeah, Harry. Nothing happened, and you managed to warn them before all this happened," Ginny said, caressing her boyfriend's hair softly.

"Thanks for your support, Gin," Harry, said with half a smile.

"Take this, Harry," Mrs. Weasley said, giving Harry and the teenagers a mug of hot chocolate. "You need it, even if you weren't out there."

"Thanks, Mrs. Weasley," Hermione replied.

"You're welcome, Hermione."

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Five days had passed since the Azkaban breakout. Dumbledore had been to the Ministry to ask the interim Minister, Rufus Scrimgeour, the Head of the Auror Office, what their plans were to find the escapees again and to suggest to him to look for a new place for a prison, since Voldemort was very likely to try and attack Azkaban again so that he could free the remaining Death Eaters. He had been answered that he should wait and ask the next Minister for Magic but that it was indeed a very good idea.

Harry had, of course, received a 'visit' from Voldemort after the breakout. In the vision, the Dark Lord seemed pleased to see that the Dementors and some of his most loyal Death Eaters had managed to get out, but was furious when he was told, by a shaking Lucius Malfoy, that a half of the inner circle of the Death Eaters still remained in Azkaban and that a lot of Dementors had been destroyed. Voldemort then cast the Cruciatus Curse on the five escapees as a punishment for letting them get caught at the Ministry. In the end, Malfoy and Voldemort discussed what they should do with the former's son, Draco. A few plans were developed, and when Harry woke up from the vision, he told Dumbledore everything he had seen there. Since one of the plans was something about sending the boy a special Portkey, the Headmaster promised he would tell Draco that his mail would be searched from that moment on to prevent any harmful thing from reaching the boy.

In Grimmauld Place, the teenagers were either reading, studying or – in the case of Ron and Hermione – snuggling in the library. Since Ginny was now doing her Ancient Runes homework, Harry couldn't help her and decided to work on his Animagus forms. The form he had started with, the phoenix, was nearly done, but he hadn't managed yet to transform completely, so he practised all the parts he had done up until that moment. Then he decided to try the last thing he had yet to do, his legs. He did it, remembering the feeling he had felt when he had managed to change his arms and imagining his legs turned into the claws he had seen on Fawkes. When he opened his eyes, he was surprised to see he had been successful. He tested a few complete changes and in all tries he managed to change into the phoenix completely, each of them more fast than the one before. He came out of the room, grinning.

"Sirius, Sirius!" Harry shouted, running downstairs looking for his godfather.

"What's the matter, Harry?" Sirius asked, worried.

"Look!" In an instant, Harry was transformed into a precious gold and red phoenix.

"Amazing, kiddo!" Sirius shouted. "Let me see you, so that I can know how to recognise you." Phoenix-Harry flew to Sirius' shoulder and the latter started to look at his godson.

"I can see that you do have some white feathers here, right over your eyes - which are emerald green by the way - that have the form of a lightning bolt."

Harry then started to sing the beautiful song that encouraged the light-hearted.

"You have also the powers of the phoenixes!" Sirius laughed. "You should test more of them."

In a flash, Sirius saw himself on the roof of the house. The Animagus chuckled. "Kiddo, this is fantastic! You won't need to learn how to Apparate! Please, would you be kind enough to return me to the kitchen?"

Harry obliged and in the kitchen transformed into his own grinning self. "Like it?" He asked his Godfather while grinning madly.

"Of course! Now I want to know how you managed to transform yourself into one of your Animagus forms in just one month when it took your father and me nearly two years."

Harry told him that the training he had received with Dumbledore on wandless magic had helped a lot, because it made him feel a special twinge of magic every time he would cast something wandlessly, so he had applied the same principle to the Animagus transformation and it had worked.

"Good! It's a pity your friends don't really have the ability of doing advanced wandless magic, or they would be able to complete their transformations soon."

"Well, they have a really good teacher on the Animagus subject, unlike you did, so I wouldn't be surprised if they had everything grasped before Christmas," Harry said, smiling.

Sirius grinned. "Thanks, kiddo. Which animal were you planning to do next?"

"I have no idea," Harry answered. "I was so excited about being able to transform into a phoenix that I didn't give a thought to that."

"You know something? You should try the eagle. Since both the eagle and phoenix are birds, it'll be easier to change yourself into it."

"Cool! Can you give me a sec? I want to show this off a bit," Harry said, laughing.

"Be careful with that, you may scare someone."

The young man smiled and, changing into a phoenix, flashed out of the room.

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Ginny was doing her Ancient Runes homework when she suddenly asked herself where Harry was at that moment. _He must be practising some of his charms_, she told herself. Since the moment her boyfriend had heard that he could invent his own charms, he had been doing lots of things, but it wasn't like he worked on that 24/7. They spent a lot of time together, but it didn't stop her from wondering about him. She had risen up from her seat to look for him when suddenly a red flash appeared in her bedroom.

It startled her a bit and she took out her wand without thinking of what was happening, but when she realized that there was a beautiful red bird in front of her. She was sure it was a phoenix; she had seen a drawing in _Fantastic Beasts and How to Find Them_, one of the books her brother had given her two years ago for her Care of Magical Creatures class.

"Hi," Ginny said, softly. She neared the bird cautiously, but she was surprised when the phoenix jumped over her shoulder and tickled her on her ear. When she sat down, it hopped on her lap and looked directly into her eyes. She was surprised to see they were green coloured, because she had always heard that phoenixes' eyes were black, but then she realised that the colour was the same as those which always made her insides melt when they looked at her, and whose owner always drove her insane when he kissed her…

"Harry?" she asked, half-surprised, half-amused.

The bird jumped to the floor and was replaced in a heartbeat by the handsome black-haired boy that had conquered her heart nearly five years ago.

"That was faster than usual," he said, grinning. Ginny hugged him tightly and giggled into his chest.

"When did you learn to do that?" she asked with a smile.

"A few minutes ago," he answered. "You were doing your homework, and I didn't want to disturb you, so I started to practice with my Animagus and soon I managed to change completely. Then I went to show it to Sirius and now I am here."

"You exhibitionist," she said with a laugh. "How did you manage to change?"

Harry told her the same he had told Sirius a few minutes ago, and soon she was agape with a twinkle of jealousy in her eyes.

"It's a pity that I won't be able to try that thing."

"Don't worry, Gin. Remember that Sirius spent two years trying it, but he had to learn on his own, without the help of a professor. I'd say that you and the others should be able to change completely in one or two months."

"Thanks for that boost, Harry," she replied.

Harry kissed her softly on her lips and said, "Well, I'll leave you so that you can finish your homework."

"Nothing of that, my friend," Ginny replied, in a mock-stern voice. "_You_ are going to sit here," she said, pushing him to the sofa, "I'm going to sit here," she sat on his lap, "and now we are going to have a wonderful snog-fest that will last until _I_ decide it is over."

Harry obliged and soon they were kissing.

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I'm sorry it was so much time since the last chapter was submitted, but I started university a few weeks ago and I didn't have much time to write this (and I had a writer's blank), so maybe from now there will be more time between each chapter.

Next chapter, "Elections and talks"!

EDIT: The scene about fire destroying Dementors has been changed: this is because, in my planning for this story, there is supposed to be a Dementor attack in the future and if Dementors were so easily destroyed their level of menace wouldn't be as great as it normally is.


	12. Elections and Talks

Chapter 12

Elections and talks

The 12th of August, the day when the Minister for Magic elections was going to be held, everybody in the house woke up a bit late. They had been celebrating the youngest Weasley's birthday party until nearly one o'clock in the morning, and Mrs. Weasley had reminded the adults (and Harry) that the day after they had to go to the Ministry to vote, and it was not a good idea to go in the middle of the morning, because that was the moment when the most people waited to deposit their vote on the polls.

The party had been a success, and Ginny had received lots of presents from her family, her friends and her boyfriend. She had squealed with glee when she saw the little cat she had fallen in love with last month, when everybody had gone to Diagon Alley to buy the school books. Like Sirius had predicted that same day, Ginny's answer to that present was kissing Harry until he nearly fainted from lack of oxygen.

Harry, Sirius, the adult Weasleys, Remus, Mr. Lovegood and Mrs. Longbottom prepared themselves to take the Floo to the Ministry. They would go to the Atrium, where the polls were located. There were a few more candidates apart from Madame Bones and Crofton, Fudge's former business partner. Harry, again, had disguised himself to go there unnoticed. Everybody had voted in favour of Madame Bones and then they came back to Headquarters.

When he arrived to Sirius' house, Harry thought about Draco Malfoy, and what he was doing now. He considered talking with him, so that he could start to know him better apart from the spoiled brat he had been with for the last five years. He also wanted to help him with the transition from 'Voldemort supporter' to 'Light Side Supporter', and even do something to make things for Voldemort more difficult.

But first he had to talk with Dumbledore to tell him he wanted to meet Draco as soon as possible. The occasion arose while he was in one of his classes with the old Headmaster.

"Professor," he said, after a strenuous lesson in which he had learnt to use two of the elements he could control at the same time, "would it be possible to talk to Draco Malfoy anytime soon? And his mother too, if she wants."

"I'll ask Mr. Malfoy about that, but I'm sure he'll be glad to talk with you. On his mother's behalf, I don't know, but she may accept your help with her problems."

"Thanks, Professor. I would like to help him to stand against anybody that tries to cause him any problem, like some of his partners at Slytherin for example, and even his father."

"I expect Mr. Malfoy Sr. will be caught before he tries to do any kind of harm to his son. What I wonder about is how a man can be so ill-turned that he doesn't even protect his own son from the kind of things someone would suffer being a Death Eater."

"Maybe he is too wrapped around Voldemort's finger that he can't see what does really happen there."

"Maybe," Dumbledore replied with a small smile. "You should get back to Grimmauld Place; it's almost lunch time and I doubt Molly will pardon me if you miss a meal," he chuckled at that thought.

"OK, Professor." When Harry stood up, Dumbledore stopped him.

"Harry, there is something I would like to see. Sirius mentioned the other day that you had managed to master one of your Animagus forms. Could I see it?"

Harry smiled and transformed himself into a phoenix.

"Marvellous," the Headmaster said. "Sirius also said that you had the powers of the phoenix, and I would love to test them." Then he conjured a knife and cut himself on the palm of his hand, which made phoenix-Harry to fly towards him and cry over the cut, which was healed in a matter of seconds.

"Fantastic, Harry. I'm sure this will help you a lot when it comes to fulfilling the Prophecy. You should go back now, before Molly sends me a Howler for stopping you."

Harry transformed back into his normal self and went to the fireplace where, after throwing some powder, he stepped in and said, " Grimmauld Place!"

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Dumbledore saw his pupil leave the room and smiled. He still remembered the day he had left him in front of Vernon and Petunia Dursley's home with great sorrow. On their will, James and Lily had stated that their son would live with Sirius if something happened to them, but they would have never guessed the problems in which their friend would get into just because of the sudden change of Secret Keeper, starting with the supposed murder of Peter Pettigrew and finishing with his near death experience after crossing the Veil.

All those years, watching Harry while he developed his life after knowing he was famous for something he didn't remember, evoked contrasted feelings in him. It saddened him the fact that he had faced Tom Riddle four times, without counting when Harry was given the scar and Riddle had disappeared from the map, but he loved the fact that he had made friends with lots of people who were able to see past the image that had been built during all those ten years in which Harry had to live with his aunt.

The thing that surprised Albus the most was that, even though Harry had been mistreated by his relatives for a big part of his life, he was one of the most loving and considerate people he had ever seen. He would always try to protect his friends or anybody who was in danger – like it had been when Voldemort sent him the false vision of Sirius being tortured – but that lead him sometimes to try to push them away, even if he knew he would have better chances of getting through it with them. He was generous to the point that he had even offered his friends to leave him after he told them about the Prophecy.

But, of course, they wouldn't even think about that.

Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger, Harry's first ever friends – he knew that Harry's cousin had used his force to prevent anybody from becoming friends with Harry in primary school – were incredibly adamant at being friends with him, and, in spite of the fights they had had, still were the most loyal people one could see.

Neville Longbottom, always feeling shadowed by his parents, had gained a lot of confidence thanks to the group Harry had created the year before, Dumbledore's Army, Neville had learnt how to use lots of charms and spells. As Minerva had told him, the only thing that separated Neville Longbottom from the best working was the lack of confidence he didn't show anymore.

Luna Lovegood, the last addition to the group and the only non-Gryffindor, was strange, even more than himself (he chuckled then), and lots of people made fun of her just because she did believe in things that there were no proof of. But that didn't stop Harry from being friends with her. From what Trelawney had told her months ago, Luna had foresight powers, and maybe that was the reason she was so odd: watching things that you had not seen and then watch them come into reality would turn anyone insane, and possibly that was what made her think of strange things.

But the most surprising one had been Ginevra Weasley, Ronald's sister. He had watched her since she arrived to school. In her first year, she had to encounter Tom Riddle's diary, which was enchanted and had forced her to open the Chamber of Secrets. When Harry saved her, Albus was sure that the two young people were meant to be with each other, even if they didn't know yet. They reminded him of another couple that had assisted Hogwarts nearly twenty years ago, and even if they didn't get on well for nearly six years, they had ended together, got married and had a son: James and Lily, Harry's parents, were very much like Harry and Ginny, although the latter were together since a younger age than the former.

With a smile, Dumbledore stood up too, and went out of his office. It was time to have a talk with young Mr. Malfoy, and this one would be a very important one

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_MADAM BONES, NEW MINISTER FOR MAGIC! _

_After the meeting of the Magical Heads in which Cornelius Fudge was dismissed from his position as Minister, elections were called for choosing a new one. In the voting, three people were the most mentioned as candidates: Amelia Susan Bones, Head of the Magical Law Enforcement Department; Andrew Silas Crofton, president and owner of the Floo Powder Company; and Rufus Tiberius Scrimgeour, Head of the Auror Office. _

_The voting went through the day without problems of any kind, and in the end of the day votes were counted. Finally, the results were made public: Madam Bones had gotten eighty-five percent of the votes, Mr. Crofton nine percent of the votes and Rufus Scrimgeour four percent, the rest going to minor candidates. _

_Such a big difference between the main candidates can only mean that the British Wizarding population is, without a doubt, eager to support a change that will lead everybody to a new era of prosperity. _

_From the offices of the _Daily Prophet_, we congratulate Madam Bones for her success and can only expect that new times are ahead of us. _

_(For Madam Bones' policy with actual and future matters, see pages 2 to 5) _

_(For the reasons of Fudge's dismissal, see pages 6 and 7) _

_(Minister's first speech to the Nation can be seen in page 8) _

The front page of the 13th of August _Daily Prophet_ was practically covered with a photograph of the new Minister for Magic working hard on her new office, writing a letter with her black eagle feather at a very fast pace. Her severe image helped to show the fact that she was going to act very seriously in her new position.

Harry was smiling while he read page four. Apparently, Scrimgeour had told the Minister (he had only presented for the post so that there would be a bigger chance of avoiding someone like Fudge to get the position, so he didn't have any resentment towards Madam Bones) Dumbledore's idea about a new prison, one that didn't have to be guarded by Dementors to be secure, and she had accepted the idea, so one thing that would be made was to build a building in a secure island which would only be known by a few people, because Azkaban as a example of the best security had gone downhill since last winter's breakout and, more recently, the attack in which the Dementors had rebelled and Malfoy Sr. and the others had escaped.

Harry knew that Amelia Bones was very strict, but also fair, like Professor McGonagall, so he was sure that, with her in charge, things would go far better than with Fudge.

But the best news had not arrived yet to Grimmauld Place: Dumbledore, in a meeting with the Minister, had managed to both make her join the ranks of the Order of the Phoenix and give it an official status that would be very useful for their work against the Death Eaters and other minions of Voldemort's; and Mr. Weasley had thrown a bombshell at dinner when he told his family he had been promoted to Madam Bones' old position, Head of the Magical Law Enforcement Department. Mrs. Weasley had fainted from the impression, and it took five minutes for her husband and children to wake her up from her situation.

Harry was happy for them, because if there was someone who deserved a big promotion, that one was Mr. Weasley, who had always worked hard in the Ministry even if some people didn't want to recognize his proficiency.

Everybody in the house congratulated him and Sirius decided to throw a party to celebrate this great news on the very next day. With such short notice, it was a bit difficult to do anything, but the party was incredible: all the people in the house that knew how to cook – even Harry – made some of their special dishes for the occasion. A few Hogwarts' professors that had taught Mr. Weasley when he was at school arrived to the party: Dumbledore, McGonagall, Flitwick and his older Muggle Studies professor, Mr. McCoy, who was very proud of his former student.

While in the party, Dumbledore approached Harry and told him: "Harry, Mr. Malfoy would like to meet you tomorrow. I told him you would be free by twelve o'clock."

"Thanks, Professor." Then, he went towards his friends and told them the new piece of information to talk with them about what he should do about it.

"If Professor Dumbledore believes Malfoy means no danger, I think you shouldn't be extra-careful," Hermione said, her logical mind in action. "Just try to talk with him about what he is going to do in the DA and that sort of things."

"You should be careful about those Glimpering Gargoyles he has around. Maybe those are why he is so bad-behaved, and now he is trying to make them go away. I'm sure that when he manages to do that, we'll find he is a nice person."

Harry pretty much ignored the first half of the advice, but thought the second part could be true. He would just have to be careful with what he said to the blond boy.

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"So, do you want to know about what we will be doing in the DA next year?" Harry asked Draco.

Both teenagers had been talking for more than an hour. They had just arrived to the Great Hall, in which they were going to have a meal (Harry had asked Professor Dumbledore to inform Mrs. Weasley and the others that he wouldn't be able to arrive for lunch), and Harry sat between Draco Malfoy and his mother, who had finally recovered from her injuries.

For the previous hour, they had been talking about their lives and, while Draco had learnt that Harry's was not a bed of roses, the dark haired boy heard that the blond's life wasn't as great as he was always proclaiming: his father hardly took notice of him while he was staying at home, as he spent nearly the whole time working on his own affairs, bribing Fudge or, more lately, taking Voldemort's orders. Draco could always be given the best things in the market by his father, but obviously the only person that truly loved him was his mother, because the only times his father had ever talked with him was to spill on him that utterly rubbish – Draco had said those exact words – about Voldemort being so great and that he would rule the world with the Malfoys beside him, and that anybody who was not a pureblood shouldn't be respected just because of their ancestry. When he was younger, Draco had asked him why it was like that, but with time he learnt that it was better to just swallow what his father said, because he went into a rage when he did that.

"Well," Draco answered, "it would be nice to know what you have done so far, although I have to admit that my father made me practice during the summer to keep up with what he called 'the family business'."

"Being a Death Eater." It was a statement, not a question.

"Exactly. I know he wanted me to join Voldemort, but now I can bet he is very pissed off."

"Who? Your father or Voldemort?"

"Both."

"I'd say that. Do you know if your father is able to take care of himself, now that both of you are gone?"

"Lucius has the house-elves," Narcissa said, turning her head to the teenagers, "and he has access to all the money he has been collecting through the years with his business. That's why the Dark Lord esteems him so much, because he is the biggest financial supporter of the Death Eaters."

"Do you have access to the money, too?" Harry asked suddenly, conceiving what could be a big plan that would be a big help in the fight.

"Yes, to the most of it. But there is one vault Lucius hardly talks about, which I think is the one where he puts the money for the Dark Lord. Why?"

"Why don't you open another account in the bank and put all the money in it? That way, you have your money _but_ your husband does not. He may still have access to the money his business provides, but I'd bet he would have a very hard time trying to explain Voldemort where all the money went."

Narcissa smiled. She was starting to like this boy. She had always heard from both her son and her husband about Harry, never in good words, but to her he was a fine young man that knew what to say in the right moment. His ideas were good, too, since she knew Lucius wouldn't be able to take care of himself, and that would make him stop thinking about her and Draco.

"It's a good idea, that one. Worthy of a true Slytherin."

"I can tell you the Sorting Hat nearly put me in Slytherin, but I asked him to keep me out of there."

Draco laughed. "Could you imagine what would have happened if you had ended with me?"

"I wouldn't be able of think of something worse," Harry joked. "Do you think you would be able to show me what you are able to do?"

"Yes. We could ask Professor Dumbledore if we can use the Defence Against the Dark Arts class."

"Nah, I know something better. Remember where the DA met last year? That place is very nice for what we want to do; it can provide us with anything we want."

"Good idea. Mother, we'll come back soon," Draco said. "If we are not back in an hour, send a search party for us."

Narcissa chuckled.

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Harry arrived tired at Grimmauld Place. Tired but happy. From what he had seen, Draco Malfoy was able to do nearly everything he had taught to the DA last year, except the Patronus Charm, which Draco had never learnt because his father thought it was useless and, besides that, he didn't have very good memories to make the charm work. Harry had spent nearly an hour trying to show Draco what he should try to use to succeed in casting the Patronus, until he remembered that in his O.W.L.s he hadn't used a memory, but a happy thought about the future.

Harry told Draco that, and in the end it worked perfectly: a silver mist went out of Draco's wand and stayed in front of him for a few seconds before it dissolved itself. Harry cheered Draco telling him that he had been that far more or less at the same rate, and reminded him not to get down by that, because of how difficult the Patronus Charm was and that he should remember that it was very different when you had to face a Dementor. In the end, Harry and Draco had a mock-duel, in which both teenagers used lots of charms and spells on the other boy. Harry won the duel because he was able to dodge or block everything Draco casted, and could take him down because he relied only on magical shields that didn't block physical things. Before leaving, Harry told Draco that he should improve his physical condition to improve his chances of winning in a duel, and suggested him to have a run everyday around the Black Lake, and then ask the Room of Requirement for some dummies that could help him work on his dodging ability and in his accuracy.

First thing Harry did when he arrived was to go upstairs to change his clothes and have a shower, because he was sweaty after all the exercise he had done. After that, he joined his friends, who were in the library. Since none of the older teenagers had any summer homework due to the O.W.L.s, they helped Ginny and Luna to finish their homework; then they did some light exercise with the machines Harry had bought while he told the others about his day with Draco. All of them were still at odds with the fact that Draco Malfoy wanted to be their friend and wanted to join the DA, especially Ron, who had always hated the Malfoy surname and everything attached with it, but that didn't stop them from welcoming the new friendship.

Harry had not told them yet about the Founders' weapons he had found in his vault, because he still felt the need of finding the last two people, those which would get the daggers and the flute, Cunning and Fellowship. Somehow he knew that he had met those two people, and that they studied at Hogwarts, but nothing more.

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The next day, Harry once again took the Floo to Hogwarts to meet Professor Dumbledore for his daily lesson on elemental magic. It went really well, with Harry being able to control the water in the Black Lake to the point of nearly emptying it with his powers. He was also able to produce a little tornado and some earthquakes of low magnitude, but what he had really grasped was the concept of fire: he could provoke a big fire in the middle of the Forbidden Forest that didn't burn a single piece of grass.

Dumbledore had told him that he was sure the young man would be able to start trying to summon his own elementals the next day. Harry was ecstatic after hearing that, and Ginny was the one who received the tail end of Harry' happiness, not that she really wanted to complain about his enthusiasm.

After having lunch, Harry prepared his next Legilimency lesson. For the last week, Fabian hadn't appeared because he had to cancel the lessons due to his mother's health. Before going, Fabian had told Harry that he was becoming very proficient at Legilimency, but he was still far from his or Dumbledore's level, and that he should still practice with his friends whenever they wanted.

Harry had laughed when Fabian let him see the three-headed argument between himself, Dumbledore and Snape about the latter's Occlumency lessons with Harry. At first, Snape had expressed his doubts about the possibility of Harry even being able to put a wall around his thoughts, and the older men had made a practical demonstration on their combined attack of Harry, which had given a headache to the Potions master. After that, Fabian had started a big argument with Dumbledore for letting Snape use such a big force since day one and not telling Harry the slightest thing about proper mind shielding. While Dumbledore tried to placate him, Snape wouldn't stop making snide remarks about Harry and his supposed inability for magic, but he was scolded each time by both Dumbledore and Fabian.

"Well, Harry, give it other try," Fabian said. "I'm sure you are able to use enough force in your Legilimency to pry on my thoughts."

"I think that's the problem, Fabian. I don't want to see your private memories, 'cause I may be curious, but I'm not one for wanting to see what you don't want me to see."

"Well, just try to fight that. I know you do have enough self-control to stop you from watching a big deal of things."

"OK. _Legilimens_!" Harry said, pointing his wand at Fabian.

Fabian's idea of a well-protected place meant a big castle with high thick rock walls and big concrete houses to keep his thoughts closed. Harry knew that Fabian was very good when doing the same thing he had done in the first Occlumency lesson, dividing his mind in two parts to accomplish better results.

Harry decided to change his attacking plan: usually, he would attack the wall in a fast and swift movement, and after that he would get into the fortress and look for one house to break in. Instead, he chose to attack in a way Fabian surely would not expect.

Fabian knew there was something strange the moment Harry didn't attack the moment he arrived, there was something he had not ever seen in his life since he had started with his training; it was like there was some kind of bird flying over him. When the bird started to fall down at a very high speed, he understood: Harry was trying to enter his mind avoiding the protections!

He chuckled, because he didn't know his pupil was able to think of that, and ran to the point where Harry had landed, just in front of one of the houses in the middle of the fortress. A hard fight ensued the moment, and, surprisingly, Harry was able to fend off every attack from Fabian, push him out of the way, and manage to break into one of the houses. Harry was assaulted then by memories of a younger Fabian studying at Hogwarts, having fun with his friends at Hogsmeade town and having exams.

Harry retreated after that and went out of the fortress to cancel the Legilimency charm and have a talk with Fabian about the recent mind attack.

"Good one, Harry!" Fabian praised. "How did you manage to fly over my mental walls? I've never seen something like that in my life!"

"Well," Harry said, with a smug smile, "I do have my little secrets, and wizards don't let their secrets leak out, no?"

The older man laughed whole-heartedly at the joke Harry had pulled up: he knew that, in the Muggle world, illusionists did not tell a soul about how they did their tricks, and since the mind flying trick was new, he would have wanted to crack that joke.

"Anyway, that was really good. Now I'm wondering if you would like to add a new defence system to your mind. I know that your memories bank is very hard and difficult to get into, but if I know something about Voldemort, is that he is very likely to play unfairly, so he will always try to get some of his Death Eaters and attack you while using Legilimency on you."

"What are you thinking about?" Harry asked.

"You would have to do a lot of work to make it work, but it is really worth it. I didn't ever manage to use it, but one of my friends, Philip Ross, may he rest in peace, was an expert on that variation of Occlumency.

"First of all, you should make a big excavation under your bank, and make only one entrance, which should be kept in the bank. Do that later, because it's not a little deal, and I'd rather have you listening intently to my idea.

"Second place, imagine the most complex labyrinth you can think of. Add all the obstacles you think would be helpful for that, but remember that anything that can hurt the attacker in the real world will not really work. Try with password-locked doors, big twists, even some invisible walls; those would do great in your labyrinth.

"Finally, put that labyrinth into that excavation, and hide your safe boxes in the labyrinth, the most important the deeper into the labyrinth. Remember to keep your Patronus memories' box accessible to reach it easily when you need to cast a Patronus."

Harry had listened intently to all the information Fabian had given him, and his grin started to grow as he started to develop something that would surely give Voldemort a big headache if he dared just to have a peek in his mind.

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"Are you prepared, Harry?"

"Yes, Professor."

"Start when you want to."

Harry started to breathe deeply and concentrated in his own self. Harry and Professor Dumbledore had gone once again upstairs to the Four Point Room, the one where Harry's elemental powers had been awakened weeks ago. Now, they were starting the ceremony in which Harry would be assigned his elementals. The forms couldn't be chosen, since they always depended on the wizard's personality and life, but Dumbledore had told him that all the elementals would look like animals Harry was comfortable with.

They started first with what Harry thought was his most powerful element, Fire. He was now facing south and had to chant something that although it made sense to him, was still a very strange thing the one he had to do.

"_Fire above the Sky, Fire under Earth, turn up here, reveal you! Your force can be mine, my life will help you! The fire into me will guide you to my presence!_"

At first, nothing of real importance happened. But then, from the windows that looked at the south, a ray of light entered, and the temperature inside the room raised slightly enough to make Harry start to sweat from the heat.

Slowly, four balls made of something the young man had never seen entered floating through the windows and at the same slow pace landed in front of Harry. He was reminded of the light beam that had connected his and Voldemort's wand fourteen months ago, and it shook him a bit in spite of knowing that thing was far away in time.

Then, the balls started to take form with slowness, and Harry was impressed to see which forms they were taking, in a miniature size: from left to right, in first place, a black dragon with a bronze spiked tail, which was called Hungarian Horntail, roared with enthusiasm; the second to the left had the very recognizable and familiar form of a red phoenix, which looked a lot like Fawkes, but it wasn't exactly like him, rather a bit more dishevelled on its head; second to the right, something that, without a doubt, Hagrid would have loved to see: _Fluffy_, the three-headed dog that had took care of the trap door that covered the entrance that lead to the Philosopher's Stone, was barking like mad with joy; finally, the fourth one was an animal Harry had always dreaded to see every time he crossed paths with them, due to how dangerous they were: a Blast-Ended Skrewt.

"Damn, I thought Hagrid would have got ridden of those for good," Harry said, pointing at the last elemental that had appeared.

Dumbledore laughed softly at that. "Well, I do believe our dear grounds keeper does still have one, hidden here in Hogwarts. If I am correct, it is the same one you fought on the third task of the Triwizard Tournament.

"As you see, all of them have taken forms that are very familiar with you, but don't worry; neither of them will hurt you. You do have to give them names, so that if you want to call one of them specifically, you can do it."

"Names? Now that's something Hagrid would love," Harry said, grinning.

"Indeed, Harry. When you have thought of the names, point your wand at them and think of that name while drawing a circle around him. That should be useful enough to make each of them turn up when you call them."

Harry thought about it hard, and in a few minutes the Hungarian Horntail was named "_Drake_", the phoenix " _Clark_", the dog "_Cerberus_" and the Skrewt "_Rusty_". Last name was not one he had chosen for a good reason; he just felt it was good for it. 

Next thing he called for was Air, so he said, turning to the East: "_Air around Men, Air inside us, come here, show up yourself! I need to breathe you, you live within me! The air into me will guide you to my presence!_"

This time, a strong wind blew through the East windows, strong enough to make the two wizards stumble while trying to keep balance and, if they hadn't been enough heavy, the banners would have flown as well.

Another four balls of energy entered with the wind and landed again in front of the younger wizard, and turned again into four miniature animals: a lemon-sized yellow bird which reminded Harry of a Snitch; a proud brown Hippogriff; a white owl which resembled Hedwig a lot; and a Thestral, a black winged horse with a sinister face, that was only seen if you had seen someone die.

"Wow! I'm starting to like these elementals!"

"I'd say that too, if I had such beautiful elementals myself. You should do the christening now, and face them later when you have more time."

Soon, the golden bird (a golden Snidget, which was what Seekers looked for in a Quidditch match until the Golden Snitch was found) was called "_Seek_", the Hippogriff "_Bucky_", the owl "_Archimedes_" and the Thestral "_Pegasus_".

"We have still got to go for Water and Earth, Harry. You can call them back any moment, but for the moment we can stop with this. I'm sure you want to spend the most possible time with your friends, especially Miss Weasley," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling as usual. Harry blushed, but complied and then faced West, from where he had to summon his Earth elementals.

"_Earth under me, Earth out of the Earth, rise among us, spread between people! Your support helps me to live, you need me to spread you! The earth into me will guide you to my presence!_"

A slight earthquake started to shake the tower and the whole school too, but it could only be felt at great heights, and that was where both Harry and Dumbledore were in that moment. Harry saw, astonished, how the earthquake shook everything in his sight, and was even more surprised when the four energy balls came, not through the windows, but through the floor, although it still came from the west side.

The four balls switched into four animals that Harry, in part, had come to love since they meant a lot to him: a black-furred dog, a grey wolf, a stag and a vixen. Those were the vivid images of Sirius, Remus (in his werewolf form), his father (like Prongs) and his mum (in her Animagus form). They brought him a few tears to his eyes, but he composed him before he started crying a lot. Naturally, these were the easiest to name: the dog would be "_Padfoot_", the wolf "_Moony_", the stag "_Prongs_" and the vixen "_Rose_". The last one was a bit difficult, since his mum didn't have a Marauder name he had heard of, but knowing that his mum was named after a flower, what could be better than another flower to name the elemental with her Animagus form?

"I wish my parents were here to see this," Harry whispered. He thought it was very low-voice, but Dumbledore heard him and answered,

"They are here, Harry. Don't you remember what Sirius said the night he came back? That they were proud of you, and that they would be always watching you from the Other Side."

"I know," Harry said in the same tone, "but I still wish they were here with me."

"You may not be able to reach them physically," Dumbledore said, standing beside him, "but you can always find them here," he said, placing his hand over Harry's heart, "whenever you want."

Harry nodded, feeling a bit sad, and faced north to ask for the last elementals, the Water ones. These would be the last ones, and he would not need to do more work on his elemental abilities, apart from training with the elementals.

"_Water from the sky, Water from the soil, flow your way, until you appear! My vital force is tied to you, yours to me! The water into me will guide you to my presence!_"

As soon as the words left Harry's mouth, it started to rain. Hagrid, who at that moment was outside of his hut, was surprised by a heavy rain when minutes before a sunny day was giving him a lot of heat and he had had to put off his big fur jacket. When it was obvious the weather was not a fake, Hagrid decided to run back to the hut with Fang running close to him and closing themselves into the house.

Harry was waiting patiently for the last four elementals to enter the Four Point Room, and finally they did that, shaping later into a boa, a male siren, a squid, and a turtle. Last one was related to one of the very few good memories he had from living with the Dursleys: he really liked to take care of the turtle the Dursleys had in their home, and he also liked the feeling of having the turtle walking slowly on his hand while trying to reach the food Harry gave her.

He decided to call the boa "_Braze_", the squid "_Edgar_" and the siren "_Mark_". That reminded him of that American writer whose nickname came from something sailors said in the Mississippi river, so the turtle went with the name "_Twain_".

When Harry told his mentor what names he had chosen for each elemental, he smiled, especially with the names of the siren and the turtle.

"It's good to see you have some sense of humour."

"Well, life without humour wouldn't be interesting, don't you think so?" Harry said, grinning.

"I'd say that. Now, you will have to work with your elementals, assigning them different chores. Try to send something to your friends and let tell them you later what they think."

Harry, with a big grin, Conjured a white rose, wrote a little note and asked _Rose_ to take it to Ginny. When she came back, she told Harry that the girl had liked the unexpected present a lot.

"I do believe they'll do great, sir."

"I expect that, Harry. Now, off with you. I believe Miss Weasley will like to thank you for the present you sent her."

Harry blushed again and let a chuckling Dumbledore direct him to the fireplace and he Floo'd straight to " Grimmauld Place!"

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The day before having to depart to Hogwarts School, Harry was reflecting in his bedroom about the incredible summer he had had after coming back to Privet Drive number 4.

First, he had learnt that Hermione had been kidnapped by Bellatrix Lestrange while having a walk in the park and then had been rescued by Ron, who had afterwards told her what everybody save her had always know, that he was in love with her. Then, Sirius had came back from wherever he had gone after going through the veil and had said a monologue in which everybody had got a message from Harry's parents, and after one last week with the Dursleys, Harry was now living with his godfather and would never have to see his hated aunt, uncle, and cousin again. Then he had talked with Ginny and, after a heated and passionate kiss, they had officially become a couple. After that, the Toad-Woman Umbridge had been charged and imprisoned for all the awful things she had done while "teaching" at Hogwarts and, in the same day, Harry discovered that he was a descendant of the Four Founders of Hogwarts and had some great powers that would help him a lot when he had to fight Voldemort in the future to fulfil the Prophecy.

Before his birthday, he had been surprised when Dumbledore told him that Draco Malfoy, his former enemy, had turned his back on his father and Voldemort next to the impeachment to Fudge which had resulted into the choosing of Madame Bones as new Minister for Magic, and then he had visited a vault which was his due to his condition of Heir of the Four and had learnt the true reasons behind the separation of Salazar Slytherin from the other three Founders. He had been training to control his powers since he learnt his inheritance, but without neglecting other aspects of his life, like his sixteenth birthday, which had turned rather ugly when Voldemort's rage attacked him through the scar that linked both of them since the dark wizard used the _Avada Kedavra_ on him without success.

Everything had culminated a few hours ago into a nice dinner, in which everybody was talking animatedly about what the future would hold for them. Fortunately, Voldemort had decided not to attack until he was sure to reinforce his army, something that gave the Wizarding world both a break and more time to reinforce them too. Unlike what Fudge would have surely done, Madame Bones was working hard to make everything on her hand to improve the situation. So far, she had arranged for the Auror Training Program to accept more recruits and to concentrate the studying in two years instead of three; she had also revoked a few laws regarding the most ostracized sector of the population. For example, some of the anti-werewolf laws that prevented them from having jobs had just been ruled out to try and attract them to the Ministry's side, which would also help Remus with his money issues. The giants had been approached by some Ministry people, and the goblins had been convinced to join the war against Voldemort.

He was aware of the fact that there were still the Death Eaters and those beings that supported them, like the giants that had been approached by Voldemort last year or the most vicious werewolves, but those were a minimal part of the big group.

_Yeah, things are looking up now_, Harry thought to himself, before going to sleep peacefully.

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	13. Platform 9 34: The Fifth Arrives

Chapter 13

Platform Nine and Three-Quarters: the Fifth arrives

Everybody woke up early the day they were going to take the Hogwarts Express. The six teenagers were slightly nervous since they were going to start a new year at Hogwarts School, but the adults were even more nervous, because they thought Voldemort was very likely to send his Death Eaters to attack the kids while they tried to get on the train, especially Harry.

After having a quick breakfast and shower, Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Neville and Luna were ready to go out of Sirius' house. Mr. Weasley had arranged for some of the Ministry cars to take them to King's Cross to make the travel safer. The teenagers, along with Sirius, were going in one of the cars, while the other adults (Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Hermione's parents, Luna's father and Neville's Gran and Remus) took the other car. Some Aurors would guard platform Nine and Three-Quarters under the orders of Kingsley Shacklebolt, who had been given the command of the group.

When they arrived, Moody was waiting for them with a trolley in which he had put all the trunks. Soon they were going through the magic barrier that separated the magical platform from the rest of the station, and they still had half an hour before the train departed to Hogwarts.

"Well, boys," Mrs. Weasley was telling Ron, Harry and Neville, "I expect you will behave well, and study a lot. Don't put yourselves into trouble and everybody will be happy." 

"I'd love to do that, Mrs. Weasley," Harry said, grinning, "but what would be the fun side of Hogwarts if we didn't run into trouble?"

Ron snorted, like Neville did, when Ron's mother looked slightly stern at her surrogate son.

"Well, do your best not to run into trouble on your own, Harry."

"I think I can try that."

Mrs. Weasley hugged the three of them and then went to the girls to tell them the same thing.

"Harry," Sirius told him then, "do something to make the Marauders proud, ok? Prank everybody into your line of sight before the Leaving Feast, please."

"I'll do my best," Harry said while hugging his godfather.

When he separated from Sirius, his scar started to tickle a bit and then he heard in his mind "Attack Hogwarts Express now!"

"Damn. Sirius, prepare for some action, Death Eaters are going to arrive here soon."

Sirius swore under his breath and said, "I'll alert the others. Tell your friends to take their wands out and remember all their training."

Harry nodded and then run towards Hermione, who was now talking with her parents, with Ron waiting beside her.

"Mione, take your parents inside the train and take your wand, Death Eaters are going to attack the train in a few minutes."

The bushy-haired girl paled, but nodded and directed her stricken parents to one of the carts while Kingsley Shacklebolt announced in his grave voice, amplified by a Sonorus charm: "Ladies and gentlemen, we have received word that some Death Eaters plan to come soon, so we ask all those who are not able to fight to get into the train for their safety. Those who can take your wands out and prepare."

Panic broke into the crowd, but in spite of that the Aurors managed to get the people into the train while some of them stood next to the doors with their wands out and their faces hardened at the fact that those bastards were trying to attack their children.

Soon, silence fell over all the presents at the station, leaving a big space in the middle of the platform where it was the most probable the Death Eaters would Apparate. Harry's ears (and probably everybody else's) were pounding with blood in nervousness. This would be the first time he would face someone in a real combat situation – the fight at the Department of Mysteries didn't count, because the DE's hadn't tried to kill him, only to retrieve the recording of the Prophecy – and he would be able to use his new-found abilities. That reminded him that he had his elementals, so he called upon all of them and told them to protect everybody from the Killing Curse – being magic and not being alive would render them unharmed – or the Cruciatus Curse, but he wasn't sure they would be able to do it. He looked at his friends, whose faces were between the pale face of Hermione to the confident look of Ginny, passing by the nervous Neville, the odd look in Luna's eyes, and the concentration at Ron's frown.

His train of thoughts was interrupted when more than fifty black-cloaked people with white masks arrived to the place and after an initial and shocked survey of the place they started to shoot spells at everybody in their line of sight.

Harry and his friends started to fire back at the Death Eaters, after Harry had conjured his Miraculum spell in front of them to null or reduce the damage the spells would surely cause.

The six teenagers used all the charms they had learnt through the summer – although they hadn't been able to use them, Harry had taught them how to do each of them – and Harry called upon his Crafted Spells, especially the Bed Time Spell he had developed from the normal Stunner. Soon, ten DEs were lying on the floor, and that propelled them to start using more powerful curses and to spread through the platform. Another fourteen Death Eaters went straight towards where Harry and his friends stood, who had to separate to try and hold their own against them individually.

Each of them had to take two Death Eaters and they had to fight against them individually, except Harry who was soon faced with four DEs.

Fortunately, the physical training they had been doing for the last month and a half showed its best side in the middle of the battle: all of them were able to dodge each spell the Death Eaters threw at them. Harry had a more difficult time, because he had to face four bad guys instead of two, but nonetheless it was fantastic to see him move at top speed to avoid being hit by Voldemort's minions. He had a very hard time just to defend himself, but in a few minutes he was able to Stun them, one by one, until he had gotten rid of three of the four DEs. When he turned to the last one he was faced with, his enemy changed tactics in a much unexpected way: he used the Imperius Curse on Harry.

_Come with me, Potter_, Harry heard in his mind. _Take this Portkey and leave this place,_ the Death Eater continued saying while showing a golden ball to the younger wizard. Harry snickered at him.

"Not bloody likely, mate," Harry laughed before Stunning him in a matter of seconds. What kind of fool would try to use the Imperius Curse on Harry when it was widely known he had even resisted Voldemort? Then something clicked in his mind: every Death Eater must have one Portkey with them!

Harry called mentally to Clark and Drake: _Guys, destroy all the Portkeys those Death Eaters have with them!_ The two elementals accepted the order and started to travel through the platform, flying towards each one of the black-cloaked people and burning the Portkeys they had in their pockets.

_Master,_ Clark told him, _all those men had two Portkeys with them. Each one was designed with a different purpose._

_They had golden balls like the one that was shown to you before, but they also had some necklaces around their necks which would allow one of them to transport the whole group at the same time,_ Drake said.

_Thank you, Clark, Drake,_ Harry told them while he turned and used a Bludgeoning spell on one Death Eater that was trying to strike Neville on his back.

Everybody was holding the Death Eaters admirably, and Harry's friends were among the best. The best advantage the bad guys had, the element of surprise, had been denied when Harry had picked that brief order thanks to his link to Voldemort, so now that they had been ambushed, Voldemort's minions were having a hard time to fight against well-trained Aurors as well as lots of adults who were there defending their children.

Harry then heard a shout on his right.

"GINNY!" Harry yelled when he looked how an accurate Cutting Hex had hit her on her knee, and she fell to the floor in pain. When Harry saw that the Death Eater was aiming at her, and he saw – later he would discover that he had used Legillimency in a very intuitive way – that his girlfriend was going to be subjected to the pains of the Cruciatus Curse.

"NOOOOO!" Harry shouted, raising his right hand and twisting it in the exact moment the Death Eaters shouted "Crucio!" and an orange light went out of the wand.

Then, something incredible happened: a black spot appeared in the middle of the trajectory and swallowed the light. Nobody would have been able to say who was more surprised: Harry, who had casted whatever was standing between Ginny and the Death Eater; Ginny, who was mouth-agape after watching the black hole catching the Cruciatus Curse; or the Death Eater, who had been expecting his intended victim to writhe in pain in front of him.

Ginny was the first to react, and soon her Stunner left the Death Eater who was fighting with her completely stunned – no pun intended – and left to join Hermione against the second Death Eater who was still with her, and soon he was also knocked out.

Only one Death Eater was still standing up, and when he realised of the situation he was in, he shouted "Activate!"

Nothing happened: obviously, he was expecting his Portkey to take him and the others back to where their headquarters stood, but the surprise on his face was eloquent enough.

"Stupefy!" Shackelbolt said, aiming at the last Death Eater, who fell to the floor after the red light hit him.

Harry closed his eyes in relief and turned his head back while blowing the air he had retained in his lungs. Then he felt someone hugging him from his right and, when he opened his eyes, the precious red-head that had conquered his heart was sobbing against his chest.

"Sshh, Gin, love, everything went OK. You are not really hurt, nobody is really. They only came here to catch me. It's funny that one of those idiots tried to use the Imperius on me, they should have known that I was able to fight Voldemort's with ease," Harry told her, trying to raise her mood.

"Yeah, but-but I nearly was hit by a-a Cruciatus, and you stopped it. Th-Thank you," she said, between sobs.

Harry didn't know what to say, so he just stood there, comforting Ginny and caressing her long hair smoothly while all his friends arrived where they were.

"Hi, mate," Ron said, nervously. "How are you? Did you get hurt?" 

"No, but Ginny was hit by a Cutting Hex. How about you?"

"I twisted my ankle a bit after I Stunned one of those Death Eaters," Neville said, his face sweaty and red. "I just fell on a bad position and put my foot on the edge of the platform."

"Nothing here, Harry. I'm just a bit breathless," Luna said with a strange – on her – concentrated look.

"Same here," Hermione replied, recovering the colour to her face. "I've just got to find my parents. I expect they are unharmed."

"Hey, lads, how are you?" Sirius said, with a worried look.

"Nothing too serious, Sirius. Just Ginny's knee and Neville's ankle. What about you?" 

"Lupin got hurt in the shoulder and Arthur was hit by a Stunner, but nothing that can't be healed easily. Kingsley is now taking all the Death Eaters to the Ministry. By the way," he told Ron and Ginny, "you two should go to see your mother. She's quite frantic right now."

Ron nodded, but Ginny was not able to let Harry off after seeing how close she had been of receiving one of the worst curses anybody could think of, so Harry took her on his arms to Mrs. Weasley. Neville, Luna and Hermione, who had just found her parents, went with them to try to calm Mrs. Weasley

"Molly, dear, calm down, please," Mr. Weasley said, obviously recovered from the Stunner. "You can see everybody is OK, and our children are coming to us right now."

"But… those awful men! They went here to hurt my three children and their friends!" Harry was touched when he heard Mrs. Weasley include him in with 'her children', but soon he was engulfed between the arms of the older woman, with Ginny next to him.

"Mrs. Weasley… I… can't… breath…" Harry said when the hug started to tighten too much around him.

"Sorry, Harry," she said, letting them go before hugging Ron, Hermione, Neville and Luna in turns. Ron was especially surprised with the strength his mother had when she was upset, because he was sure she had cracked one or two of his ribs.

"Mum," Ginny tried to say, still holding Harry tightly, "you can see that we are all well. I only need something to heal the cut on my knee, and I'll be perfectly fine."

When she heard her daughter was harmed, Mrs. Weasley fretted and didn't stop until Ginny showed her the injury, which, fortunately, wasn't very deep: both the shields she had raised and her clothes had taken care of that. With a swish of her wand, her skin was healed in a matter of seconds.

"Thanks, Mum." In that moment, the train's chimney whistled, warning that the teenagers that they would have to get on the train if they didn't want to remain at Kings Cross.

Mrs. Weasley hugged all of them one more time and then shooed them to the nearest door, just a few seconds before the train started to move. Everybody managed to find one window and say goodbye from there before the train was too far from their families.

"We should go to find a compartment. Are you coming?" Harry asked his friends.

"Well, Harry, we have to go to the prefects' meeting…" Hermione said.

"Don't worry, Hermione, you'll be able to find us easily. We will surely be at the last compartment. And we'll make sure to buy enough sweets for both of you when the food cart passes by."

"Thanks, mate," Ron said before going with Hermione towards the front carts.

"You are welcome," Harry shouted to his moving away friends. Then he turned to Ginny, Neville and Luna and asked them if they wanted to go with him.

"Sure," Ginny replied, taking his hand into her own and directing him towards the last compartment. Luna smiled and, linking her arm with Neville's (who blushed a bit, but smiled also) followed them.

Each couple sat in one of the seats, snuggling and trying to forget what had happened at the station, although Harry couldn't stop to wonder if that thing he had casted had something to do with one of those two elements that were not shown in his information and the genealogical tree.

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The trip was uneventful while Hermione and Ron stayed at the prefects' car. The two boys chatted a bit about what they would be facing this year at Hogwarts, while Luna and Ginny read the latest issues of _The Quibbler_ and _Teen Witch Weekly_ respectively. When the Gryffindor prefects arrived, they had frowns on their faces.

"You won't guess what has happened now," Ron said, throwing himself on one of the remaining seats and taking a Cauldron Pastry Harry was handing him.

"Let me guess," Ginny said with a sarcastic tone, "Parkinson is still a Prefect."

"Correct," Hermione replied with a scowl, sitting down with her boyfriend.

"One would think that, after everything she had done last year as a member of the Inquisitorial Squad, she would have been ripped of her Prefect privileges," Luna said, leaning her head against Neville's shoulder in an innocent fashion. Neville's face turned a slight shade of pink, but he smiled in spite of his embarrassment.

"The worst is that, technically, they weren't breaking the rules, so Professor Dumbledore can't find a reason to do that," Hermione replied. "At least the Squad was dismantled."

"No point on groping about that," Harry reasoned with his friends. "If Draco is still a Prefect, I expect there will be fewer problems with the Slytherins. Maybe, even some of them will want to join the DA."

"What?" Ron exploded.

Before he could start to rant about that, Hermione took his hand while saying "Ron!"

Remembering that his girlfriend was with him, he breathed deeply before apologising:

"I'm sorry, mate. I just overreacted when you said the Slytherins would join the DA."

"Don't worry about that. The new contract Hermione and I have developed will stop anybody from trying to say a thing about what is happening in the meetings. Besides, if someone decides to join Voldemort, they will have a very nasty surprise." It was true: Hermione, after having a look at the book Harry had bought at Diagon Alley two months ago, had suggested to him a few ideas and he had charmed a roll of parchment so that everybody who signed it would be forced to keep silence around those who were not part of the group, and if said person tried to show others their new knowledge, they would find themselves with their memories wiped, transformed into various animals or other things that would prevent a Legillimens from seeing the memories of the students.

"I almost wish someone tries to do something," Hermione admitted with a grin. "It would be worth a good laugh."

"I'd bet!" Ron said, when remembering what his friend had told him about the contract.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Scarhead, two Weasels, the Mudblood, the squib and Loony Lovegood," someone said from the door of the compartment.

Harry was about to shout something around the lines of "get lost, Malfoy" when he saw that the one who had talked was Theodore Nott, a Slytherin sixth-year who was the son of a Death Eater. Apparently, he had got appropriated of the two former Draco's goons, Crabbe and Goyle, and Pansy Parkinson was with him too.

"What do you want, Nott?" Harry asked with anger in his voice: it was obvious that now Nott would be the one that would harass them, instead of Draco.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Will I have to teach you to talk respectfully to your betters?" Nott replied with a wicked smile.

Harry snorted. "Yeah, you will be my better the day Voldemort wins a beauty contest."

The Slytherins flinched when they heard the name of the Dark Lord. "Don't mention that name again!" Nott threatened.

"And what will you do? Call your daddy to stop me? Oh, wait, he can't, 'cause he is sucking Voldy's arse so much that he can't separate his lips from him." Everybody laughed at Nott's discomfort when being reminded that his father was a Death Eater on the run.

"You'll pay for that, Potter," he said, reaching his wand with his hand.

"Don't bother, Nott," Harry said, calmly. "Do you really expect to best me, when I've beaten Voldemort some kind of… what… _five_ times? Besides defending myself against more than twenty of those idiots that follow Voldy around with a broken leg. So, just leave now and stop yourself from being publicly embarrassed." With that, Harry stood up, shoved Nott out of the compartment and closed the door with a smirk. Then he used a privacy charm that soon paid its toll when Pansy Parkinson tried to open it again and shrieked when she received an electric discharge through the knob.

The six teenagers laughed when they saw the Slytherins retreat back to wherever they were staying and kept chatting about non-conclusive things when someone knocked on the door. Harry looked through the glass and was surprised to see it was Cho Chang.

"Harry, I need to talk with you," she said with her silky voice.

Harry looked at the others with a "What the hell's going on?" look, and they shrugged, their faces showing how clueless they were. Even Hermione didn't look like she knew what was happening there.

As confused as he was, Harry released the privacy charm and opened the door.

"Did you want something?" Harry asked.

"I would like to talk with you – in private," she said, looking at his friends with some awe.

"OK," he said noncommittally. "I'll be back soon," he told his friends, giving Ginny a smile to try and soothe her apparent discomfort at the situation.

Harry went out of the compartment and then leaned against the wall of the train, next to the door. "Er, Harry," Cho said, "I meant somewhere _more_ private."

"I think this is private enough for both of us," Harry said; he still felt awkward at being with a girl he had had a crush on and had gone out with him. Cho seemed to be a bit sad, but quickly regained her composure.

"Well, the first thing I should do is apologize for what I said when we got caught by Umbridge," she said in an apologetic tone. "I didn't like that Granger used that charm on the contract, but I should have realised that what Marietta had done was not very good."

"Don't worry about that. I've forgiven you," he replied. It was true that he had been very angry when Cho's friend had sneaked on them, but he knew that if it had been one of his friends he would have done the same.

"Thanks, Harry," she said with a smile. "It was a pity that we stopped seeing each other for that."

_Uh, oh,_ Harry thought. _NOW I know why you wanted to talk with me._

"I missed you a lot after our fight," she said in a sweet voice.

_I'd bet that,_ he thought bitterly. "Aren't you going out with Michael Corner now?"

"No, I dumped him before the end of the term. He wouldn't stop talking about Ginny Weasley… 'Ginny this…', 'Ginny that…' He was driving me mad."

"I wonder about what that sounds like," Harry muttered sarcastically. After all, she had been talking about Cedric all the time when they went to Madam Puddifoot's on their first and last date.

"You were saying, Harry?" Cho asked.

"Nothing important."

"Oh, well. I was wondering if we could give it another shot. I know that you like me a lot, and I like you a lot, so there shouldn't be any more problems."

_News for you, Chang, I'm already taken. And she is a thousand times better than you,_ Harry told himself. "I'm sorry, Cho, but I'm going out with someone else right now."

"I thought you would have waited for me to come back, Harry," she said, hurt.

_Not bloody likely._ "It's funny that you mentioned Ginny before, because I'm going out with her."

"And how exactly can a little girl like her be better than a woman like me?" she asked rhetorically.

_Mental note: make sure to show Ginny that she is the best woman I've ever met. _

Before he could do or say anything, Cho had trapped him between the wall and her body.

"I know that I am _irresistible_ to you," she said with a seductive voice, and leaned to kiss him.

_Damn!_ Harry told himself. _What do I do now? I want to be with my girlfriend, not with Cho!_

In a flash, he was back to his seat at the compartment. All his friends shouted and tried to draw their wands, but when they saw it was Harry, they stayed there with surprise written on their faces, as well as on Harry's.

"Harry!" Ron shouted. "What the bloody hell was that?"

"Ronald, language!" Hermione scolded him. _Some things will never change,_ Harry thought.

Out of the compartment, they could hear the older girl having a tantrum. Obviously, she had wanted to kiss Harry desperately.

"What happened, Harry?" Ginny asked him.

"About how I appeared suddenly here? I haven't the slightest idea. About what happened out there? That I can tell you."

Cho looked through the window and saw astonished that Harry was in there. He was glad to see that she desisted of her efforts and went back to wherever she was.

Harry told them that initially she had wanted to apologize, but when he reached the part in which she had tried to kiss him, his face was beet red with embarrassment. Ginny's face, on the other hand, was also red, but it was anger: how could she _dare_ to even touch her boyfriend?

Luna said then, "Harry, you should be very careful now."

"Why?" everybody asked.

"Cho has always gone out with the boys she wanted to go out with. The fact that you are the first one who has dumped her is going to make her more focused into trying to get you."

"It's a pity she can't get him," Ginny said with possessiveness. Harry felt both warmed at her love and proud of her stubbornness.

"Yeah, but that is not going to stop her. She obviously believes that you two are a passing thing and that he would come back to her like a dog the moment she told him," Hermione stated, thoughtfully.

"Well, Ginny," Harry said with a smile, "you have a new duty from now."

"And that would be?"

"To mark your territory, of course."

"I'll do that gladly," Ginny said mischievously, and then kissed him passionately.

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The journey finished without any more consequences or inconvenient visits from people. They got down off the train, each carrying their pets – Harry was taking Hedwig in her cage while she was sitting on the phoenix egg, Ron was doing the same with Pigwidgeon, Neville had Trevor well secured between his hands and Hermione and Ginny were taking Crookshanks and Midnight (Ginny's black cat) in their respective baskets - to the Thestral-pulled carriages that waited at the exit of the Hogsmeade train station.

Harry no longer tried to understand why he was able to see the winged horses, since Hagrid had covered that nicely last year. Instead, he snuggled with his girlfriend into the carriage the six teenagers had managed to get hold of.

Finally, they arrived to the castle. Harry and Ginny were the last couple of the three who entered the entrance hall, but the former was surprised when a feeling he hadn't ever had – some mix of relief combined with immense joy – filled him completely. Harry didn't know where that came from, since the change had been so sudden, but he could tell it had started when he had set a foot into the castle.

"Harry?" Ginny asked him. "What's the matter?"

Harry shook his head violently, trying to get rid of the strange feelings and concentrate on her. "Sorry, Gin. Don't worry, it was nothing important."

"Are you sure?" she asked again.

"Yes," Harry replied with a smile. "Let's go now with our friends before someone tries to steal our seats."

Ginny grinned back and took him by the hand to the Gryffindor table, where Ron, Hermione and Neville, Luna had had to go to Ravenclaw's, were saving them two seats.

"Hey, mate; did you see who is sitting with the professors?" Ron asked when Harry sat down in his place between Ron and Ginny.

Harry looked to the top table and saw what Ron meant: next to Snape, Narcissa Malfoy stood with a smile on her face, and near Dumbledore two people were sitting down: Mad-Eye Moody, with his electric blue eye looking to the student crowd that was now filling the Great Hall; and an unknown man with light brown hair that wore black robes with a dark blue stripe crossing his chest. The two only empty seats were Hagrid's and McGonagall's, who were still with the first years.

"That must be the new Defence professor," Hermione said, referring to the stranger.

"What about Moody? And Draco's mum?" Ron asked.

"I'd bet Moody is teaching Advanced Practical Defence. After all, the book we are using in that class is his," Neville said.

"And I think she is going to be the Practical Potions professor. Since she is a Slytherin, the stakes are high that she was good at Potions, and since she can't go out of the school, Professor Dumbledore must have given her the position," Harry explained.

In that moment, the first years entered the Great Hall, accompanied by Professor McGonagall, while Hagrid glided into the room from the back to sit down at his place. While the young first-years-to-be waited in front of the professors, McGonagall took both the Sorting Hat and the stool over which she put the Hat between the professors' table and the students. Everybody waited for the hat to open his 'mouth' and sing his new song, and finally it did:

_A year has passed _

_Since I last stood here _

_And a thousand years has stood _

_Our castle most dear. _

_Four greatest wizards _

_Of my young hat time _

_Decided to teach boys and girls _

_To control their magic and shine. _

_Godric Gryffindor, the bravest of all, _

_Looked at his friends and said, _

_"We shall teach the courageous," _

_And put his mind at rest. _

_Rowena Ravenclaw, most intelligent, _

_Thought it carefully and replied, _

_"We shall teach the clever," _

_And watched how the others reacted. _

_Salazar Slytherin, astute like himself, _

_Just closed his eyes to the fairness, _

_"We shall teach the pure," _

_He stated with bluntness. _

_Helga Hufflepuff, last but not least, _

_Said happy and contented, _

_"I'll teach them all, no less," _

_And their fates were sealed. _

_How hard did they work? _

_Only I can tell, _

_Because I was Godric's hat, _

_And he was my dearest friend. _

_For years the Four Founders _

_Did their best to teach _

_All the magic they knew _

_To wizards and witches your age. _

_But then they separated: _

_Salazar didn't like _

_The non-pure students _

_And he tried to fight. _

_But the other three tried _

_To show him his errors. _

_Salazar abandoned the school, _

_The students and his fellows. _

_Since then a lot has happened, _

_And now I'm warning you all, _

_Like I did last year: _

_Fight together, or pay the toll. _

_But the Heir has arrived, _

_Between his peers arises, _

_And his job has started: _

_He's uniting the houses. _

_So please follow his steps _

_And don't let the bad befall. _

_I'll help you in your task, _

_Let the Sorting start! _

Everybody in the room clapped loudly after hearing the new song, but Harry knew otherwise about what it was talking about: unless he was mistaken, the Hat was talking about him. And that part about "uniting the houses" had to mean the efforts in befriending Draco.

"That was interesting," Hermione said.

"The Heir has arrived? The Heir of what?" Ron asked, confused.

"It could be a lot of things," she replied. "Maybe the Heir is a descendant of one of the Founders, or a descendant of Merlin… or he could even be a descendant of all the Founders," she continued, stealing a glance to Harry.

"Hermione, could you try not to talk about that here, please?" Harry asked through his teeth. "I'm not intending to attract more attention than usual."

"Like if that was easy to do," Ginny joked, taking his hand in hers. "If you had paid more attention to your surroundings, half the population of Hogwarts students is still looking at you."

While McGonagall started to list the new students so that they could sit under the Sorting Hat and be sent to one of the Houses, Harry looked around surreptitiously and realised that Ginny was right: nearly every girl in the school (except some second years and a good half of the Slytherins) was looking at him with something that Harry didn't like at all; although he was not sure about what it was exactly, he thought of it as a predatory look towards him, and it wasn't a good one. Harry winced when he realised about the possible consequences of that: he would indeed attract more attention, even to the point that those girls would very likely follow him through the school.

When McGonagall finished with the Sorting and the new students were at the proper tables (only six had been sorted into Slytherin, much to Snape's chagrin, since it meant less people to spoil), Dumbledore stood up at his seat.

"For those who are newcomers, welcome! And for those who are old students, welcome back!" he said, a smile on his face and the usual twinkle in his eyes. "I know that many of you wish to eat before I try to bore you with my speech, so tuck in!"

A few people laughed and the food appeared magically in the dishes around the five tables. Harry had a bit of everything, and Ron, unsurprisingly, took great amounts of nearly everything at his arm reach.

"Who do you think is the new DADA Professor?" Neville asked, a bit nervous.

Ron was about to answer with his mouth full, but he considered it and swallowed before saying anything: "I think I saw him once at the Ministry, but I can't remember his name. Dad knows him, though."

"Yeah, I remember him," Ginny replied. "I believe he is an Auror, whatever Martin, and he is friends with Shacklebolt."

"If he is as half as nice as him, it'll be a great improvement."

All of them nodded and kept eating. When the desserts disappeared, Dumbledore stood up again to give his usual start-of-term speech.

"Well, I expect you ate well tonight and now you are rested enough to listen me.

"First thing I am going to say is that you have to remember that Voldemort" – nearly all students shuddered – "is back and that the Ministry has acknowledged the situation. Although it is not very probable that he will try to attack Hogwarts, I ask you to follow the advice your professors and I will be giving you in regards of rules like the curfew. There will be patrols round the clock every night to make sure nobody is trying to sneak out of the castle or doing something dangerous.

"As usual, I have to inform you – both the new and the old students – that the Forbidden Forest remains, as its name says, forbidden.

"Mr. Filch has kindly reminded me to tell you that you are not allowed to use magic in the corridors, and that a group of new things have been forbidden within the walls of this castle. Said last additions include all the stock of the joke shop Weasleys Wizard Wheezes. The list, which now comprises some six hundred items, may be consulted on Mr. Filch's office door."

Ron and Ginny smiled proudly at the mention of the twins' shop.

"I also have to tell you that every person interested in joining the Quidditch teams shall ask their Head of House to be included in the list for the tryouts, which should be held sometime next month.

"Finally, I have to introduce you the new additions to the teachers' group: Narcissa Malfoy, who will be teaching the new subject Practical Potions for the N.E.W.T.s," Narcissa stood up, smiled and bowed to the pupils who were politely clapping at the mention of her name; "Alastor Moody, who will be the instructor for the also new subject Advanced Practical Defence," the old ex-Auror gave a curt nod to the students, who clapped this time with more enthusiasm, remembering that two years ago nobody had applauded after his rather impressive entrance, "Jonathan Martin, the new Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor," new claps sounded between the public, and Harry asked himself about who could be the last teacher, "and, in last place, the young man who will teach at the Defence Association this year. Mr. Potter, if you please?" Dumbledore asked, looking at Harry.

Harry was dumbstruck when he heard the Headmaster mentioning him as a professor, and blushed profusely. Dumbledore couldn't be talking seriously, could he? He stood there for a few seconds while everybody else looked at him.

After some gentle prodding from Ron and a few encouraging words from Ginny, Harry stood up, blush still on his face.

"Thank you, Mr. Potter. Would you like to explain to the others about the Defence Association, or would you prefer me to do that instead?" Dumbledore said, slightly amused at his pupil's embarrassment.

"No, I'll do it," Harry replied, breathing deeply before anything else. "Initially, the Defence Association was developed as a way to study Defence Against the Dark Arts when it became obvious Umbridge would not teach us a thing." Everybody whispered, remembering the loathed woman and her 'advanced methods', which meant only to read a book and no practice. "However, since I knew that Voldemort" – everybody shuddered at the mention of the name – "was back, I thought it would also be a way of learning how to defend ourselves, should we have to do so. Given the current situation, I consulted with Professor Dumbledore during the summer, and he agreed to make this an official school group.

"Next Friday, a meeting will be held for all those who are interested in joining the DA, which must be third-years or older to even consider that. I'll try to answer all your questions, but please, do not try to attend if you do not want to join: it'll save me a lot of time."

Harry sat down again, and Dumbledore spoke again: "Thank you very much, Mr. Potter, Now, I know you must be wanting to go and have a good rest before next morning classes, so, good night!"

Students rose and, slowly, started to leave the Great Hall, part of them still looking at Harry with awe. He was also about to leave, too, but Hermione pointed out to him that Dumbledore was trying to get his attention. Harry looked at the High Table and saw Dumbledore asking him silently to go to talk with him.

Harry, after promising to tell the others what the Headmaster would tell him about the sudden turn of events, did as he had been asked. This was going to be, indeed, a very interesting chat. 


	14. A Very Interesting Chat

Chapter 14

A Very Interesting Chat

When Harry reached the High Table, Dumbledore stood up.

"Harry, I'm sure you have lots of things to ask me, so why don't we go to my office? I will be able to explain everything there, and we will be more comfortable."

Harry nodded and followed Dumbledore out of the Great Hall. To his surprise, Dumbledore didn't go upstairs, to the seventh-floor, but to the corridor that lead both to the kitchens and the Hufflepuff common room. Nobody was around when they arrived, and Dumbledore smiled.

"I'd rather ask Fawkes to take us there. There is much we have to talk about, and having to walk all those stairs is a bit slow, if you ask me," Dumbledore replied, chuckling.

In that moment, Fawkes appeared between flames, and landed on Dumbledore's shoulder. He then took Harry by the hand and Fawkes 'flashed' them to the office. There, Dumbledore sat down in his chair behind the desk, while Harry took one of the chairs in front of it.

"Well, Harry. I'm sure you now have a few questions, as well as I do. Where should we start?"

"For example, why did you decide to appoint me a professor?" Harry asked with interrogation written on his face.

"That's the first I knew you would ask," Dumbledore said, smiling. "When you act as the teacher of the DA, there may be moments in which you do have to impose your authority. For example, if two of the students started to fight among themselves, it would be very difficult for you to convince them to stop. Having an authoritarian position would certainly help a lot in those circumstances. And since nearly all prefects are into the group, making you a prefect would only raise you to be an equal to them, so I decided that a professor position would be most helpful.

"As a professor, you would have the possibility of assigning punishments and docking points from the houses, as well as your own office. I would offer you some quarters, but I think you would reject them out-right. But I advise that, should you abuse your position, you would lose it. I have to tell you that some professors will be watching closely on you and your behaviour."

"That'll be Professor Snape, no?" Harry asked with a humourless smile.

"Yes, Harry. He was the most adamant against this situation, and has been arguing with me about it. I have to say that I was most displeased with his contempt towards you, which I believe is only based on the grudge he holds against your father and his friends. The fact that you are practically a physical doppelganger of your father only reinforces his beliefs about you and your behaviour."

"Then I'll make sure to show him how wrong he is," the young man replied.

"I expect so, Harry," Dumbledore conceded. "Now, I'd like to ask you about what happened at Platform Nine and Three Quarters. Remus, your godfather and Kingsley Shacklebolt have told me as much as they could, but I feel that your version has a few details that the others didn't know."

Harry nodded and, slowly, started to describe the battle at the train station as accurately as he could. Dumbledore praised him when he heard that he had been able to resist the Imperius Curse and his ability to both deduct that all the Death Eaters had Portkeys and command his elementals to destroy them. That also clued him into something that Kingsley had told him before about the last Death Eater who had remained at the place, shouting a word that would have activated all the Portkeys and whisk all of them to safety.

Only when Harry related the part about creating something with a move of his hand that swallowed the Cruciatus Curse that was meant for Ginny was Dumbledore really surprised.

"Are you telling me that you made something that was able to _stop_ an Unforgivable Curse, not just deflect it?" he said with a mix of happiness, shock and awe.

"I'm not very sure about that, Professor," Harry confessed. "I don't know what I was doing, exactly. I just – twisted my hand like this," he said, demonstrating, "that thing appeared from nothing and when the curse touched it it disappeared."

"Harry, do you have your genealogical tree here?" the Headmaster asked, struck by inspiration.

"No, but I can do something else. Dobby!" Harry shouted. The house-elf appeared in the room with a 'POP'.

"Did Harry Potter call?" Dobby asked, beaming.

"Yes, Dobby," Harry replied with a smile. "I need you to bring me my trunk. It's in my room."

"I'll do that soon, Harry Potter," Dobby replied, and in two 'POP's he had come back with the magical trunk, from which Harry took the genealogical tree and the factfinder Dumbledore had given him.

"Thanks, Dobby. I'll take this back to my room when I have to, don't worry."

"Good night, Harry Potter!" the house-elf said, and disappeared.

Harry put both the parchment and the magical instrument on the big table and did what it was necessary for the information about him to appear in the parchment attached to the factfinder:

_Harry James Potter (1980-...) _

_Son of: James Michael Potter and Lily Marie Evans _

_Patronus: Stag _

_Animagus: Badger, Lion, Phoenix, Raven, Snake _

_Magical Abilities: Metamorphmage, Mindspeech, Occlumency / Legilimency, _

_Parselmage, Spell Crafting, Wandless / Wordless Magic _

_Elemental Magic: Air, Earth, Fire, Water, Space-Time, Unknown _

"The fifth element is _Space-Time_? What that does mean?" Harry asked

"Indeed, Harry, it means what it looks like: that you are able to control both space and time. That thing you created at Kings' Cross was, if I'm not mistaken, some instinctive way of controlling space. And, as for why they are together when they should be separated, have you ever heard of Albert Einstein?"

The question shocked Harry: what did a Muggle scientist have to do with magic? "Mmmm, yes, sir. At primary school our Science teacher talked about him once or twice, but he never explained a thing about his theories."

"Well, he was one of the most brilliant scientists in the world, and he developed some interesting ideas thanks to his theories. I once found that one of his works touched a bit with the subject of magic, when he talked about the quanta, which is the real thing that magic changes when you Transfigure it.

"One of his ideas was that time and space were not separated, but that they were rather joined in what he called space-time continuum. I think that's what you used and that with time you will manage to control it. Maybe you will be able to even stop time at your surroundings."

Harry was amazed to hear that, but before he could say anything, someone knocked on the door with insistence. Harry managed to pick his things before Dumbledore let Professor Trelawney in.

"Good night, Sybill," Professor Dumbledore said, a genuine smile reaching his eyes. "To what do I owe you this pleasure?"

Harry could smell the odour of the cooking sherry Professor Trelawney had started to drink since last year, when she had received the results of the test Umbridge had done when she decided the old Seer was as bad as everybody thought.

"Good night, Albus," she replied, rather forcefully. Then she took the free chair in front of the desk, ignoring Harry completely. "The problem is that I don't know why that stallion still usurps my rightful position as the Divination teacher!"

"Now, now, Sybill, we have discussed this during the summer," Dumbledore said without losing his smile. "You know that Firenze is not able to come back to the Forest without risking his life, and I believe that the distribution of the hours is great more inclined in your favour."

"I don't care! I thought that he would at least leave his position once I recovered it, but no! He won't do that because 'I am not very good when guessing the future!' and that I don't teach my students properly!" she said, angry.

"Sybill, could we have this discussion later? I am talking with Mr. Potter here about a very important subject and he has to get back to Gryffindor's tower before curfew starts."

"Oh, Harry! How nice to see you!" she said when she found her favourite death omens recipient. "I missed having you in class last year, but I fully expect you will be as hard-working as then this year!" Harry didn't have the stones to tell her that he was not going to keep studying Divination, but Dumbledore solved the problem for him.

"Sybill, I'm afraid that Mr. Potter chose not to continue with your subject this year. He found that there were rather more useful subjects for him."

Harry prepared himself for the possible blow up of the old Professor, but it didn't happen. When Harry looked at Trelawney, she had a blank look that Harry had seen twice in his life: first time three years ago, and second just a few months ago:

"_They who gather together, _

_They who can beat the Dark Lord, _

_They who are eight friends, _

_Four boys and four girls: _

_The Leader is the Chosen One, the Heir, _

_The Bravery is his banner, _

_The Phoenix his herald. _

_The Healer is the Soul Mate, the Seventh, _

_The Medicine is her banner, _

_The Lioness her herald. _

_The Warrior is the Brother, the Strategist, _

_The Strength is his banner, _

_The Tiger his herald. _

_The Archer is the Sister, the Scholar, _

_The Accuracy is her banner, _

_The Vixen her Herald. _

_The Swordsman is the Other One, the Green Lord, _

_The Agility is his banner, _

_The Bear his herald. _

_The Seer is the Bonded, the Loner, _

_The Foresight is her banner, _

_The Owl her herald. _

_The Assassin is the Former Enemy, the Nobleman, _

_The Cunning is his banner, _

_The Dragon his herald. _

_The Musician is the New Friend, the Noblewoman, _

_The Companionship is her banner, _

_The Unicorn her herald. _

_Work together they must, _

_To make the Darkness recede, _

_Or it will win against Light _

_And make it disappear._"

Both Harry and Dumbledore were visibly astonished while Professor Trelawney recovered from her newest prediction. When she fainted from the apparent stress she had been through when she had been talking in that harsh voice Harry knew it announced that what she was saying was a true prophecy, the young man reached her so that she wouldn't fall to the floor. Dumbledore conjured a stretcher and magically put the professor on it.

"Harry, it seems that our dear Sybill has just made her third prophecy. And I have to say that this is one that we can say from now that it is true."

"Yeah," Harry replied, absent-mindedly. The reference to "_the Chosen One, the Heir / The Bravery is his banner / The Phoenix his herald,_" was clearly talking about him. He was the Heir of the Four Founders – or the Heir of Hogwarts, one could say – and he might be the Chosen One since he was the boy Voldemort had chosen as his nemesis. And then his _herald_ was his Animagus form and also the being that would go out of the egg Hedwig was sitting on in a few weeks.

The other mentioned people were, obviously, his friends: Ginny was the Healer, Ron the Warrior, Hermione the Archer, Neville the Swordsman and Luna the Seer. He could bet that Draco was the Assassin – the Former Enemy and the Dragon – but he was still clueless about who was the Musician. It was a girl, without a doubt, but nothing more apart from that.

"Since I have to take our Divination Professor to the hospital wing, I'd say it would be nice if you came with me. On the way, we can discuss this new prophecy."

Harry nodded, stood up and followed Dumbledore, who was using his wand as a means of directing the stretcher towards the hospital wing.

As promised, Dumbledore and Harry chatted about the subject of the prophecy Trelawney had just made a few minutes ago. Harry told the Headmaster his suspicions about the identity of all the mentioned on it and Dumbledore not only agreed, but did point out a few things Harry had not realised: the _Nobleman_ – Draco Malfoy – and the _Noblewoman_ – the unknown girl – were noble because of their ancestors. Dumbledore knew that the Malfoys were descendants from a mixed Muggle-Wizard French noble family from the 1500s – _There goes your pure-blood ascendance_, Harry thought, amused – and there were a few more students at the school that came from similar backgrounds, so it would be easy to find the Musician between the thousand students living at Hogwarts.

By the time both wizards had arrived to the Fat Lady's portrait – Dumbledore had decided to escort Harry to Gryffindor's tower so that they could keep talking – they had exhausted the subject of the Prophecy and had switched to the new plans for the Defence Association, the division of people in two groups – Beginners and Veterans – for easier teaching and the limits of age that would stop first- and second-years from attending the meetings.

"Well, here is where I have to leave you, Harry," Dumbledore said. "I expect you have a good sleep before your classes. Good night, Harry."

"Good night, Professor," Harry replied.

When Dumbledore was out of sight, Harry went to the portrait that opened the passage to Gryffindor's tower, but then he remembered that he didn't know the password.

"Password," the Fat Lady asked.

"Erm…" Harry said, noncommittally.

"Oh, excuse me, Professor Potter," she said, smiling. "You may pass"

"Thanks," Harry replied when he went through the portrait. There, in the Common Room, his friends and his girlfriend were waiting for him, anxiously. Nearly everybody else had gone to their beds, fortunately, so they wouldn't have problems with eventual eavesdroppers.

"Hi, mate," Ron said when Harry sat down on one of the couches, next to Ginny.

"What did Dumbledore tell you about being a professor, Harry?" Neville asked with curiosity.

"Well, he said that he had thought of giving me an authoritarian position and, since nearly all prefects are in the group or will probably join it, he chose to appoint me as a professor. Apparently, I get my own office with that, and I can hand detentions if I need to."

"Phew! That's great, Harry!" Ginny said, smiling.

"But it is also a big responsibility," Hermione reminded them. "You can't go and start punishing whoever displeases you or things like that."

"Relax, Mione," Harry replied to his friend. "I don't intend to abuse my position. I may plan to make a good use of it, but I'm not going to be like Snape, who just goes and mollycoddles the Slytherins while punishing the hardest to everybody else," he added with a grin.

The others laughed, even Hermione, who attempted to scowl at him but failed.

"But that's not the important thing that happened tonight," Harry said. "Trelawney came to Dumbledore's office while we were talking and…"

Harry told his friends about the Divination Professor and how she had suddenly made a prophecy. Hermione was clearly sceptical about it, but Harry reminded her that Trelawney had predicted both Voldemort attacking him fifteen years ago and Wormtail escaping to help Voldemort to recover his body. That seemed to soothe her thoughts and also to ask Harry to tell her the new prophecy as accurate as he could remember.

"OK," she said when she wrote everything on a piece of parchment. "Obviously, this prophecy is talking about eight people who will be able to defeat Voldemort, and since it says they are 'boys and girls', we could think that they are not of age yet.

"The first person it talks about is, hands down, Harry," she said, with a small giggle.

"It's obvious," Ron said, amused. "We have always considered you our leader, and don't dare to say you are not that, mate."

"Well, I happen to think that Hermione is right. I mean, with my Herald being the Phoenix, which is one of my Animagus forms." Harry replied.

Hermione smiled again and continued. "The second person, the Soul Mate, must be Ginny, because Harry saved her in her first year. Besides, it's like in Harry's case; the Herald mentioned is her Animagus form."

"It's nice to see that I am so important to you, Harry," Ginny said, kissing him on the cheek.

Hermione kept talking about the subjects of the prophecy, correctly guessing who the other ones were, but failing to do so when it came to the last ones on it.

"What do you think about the last two, Harry?" Neville asked.

"I talked about this with Dumbledore while he was escorting me here, and when I told him that it could be Draco, he said it was the most probable, since he is a descendant from some nobles in the Middle Ages. He also told me that he would try to search for any possibilities for the last spot between Hogwarts students, and that he would tell me that whenever he could."

"I think we should be getting to bed," Hermione said. "It's rather late, and tomorrow it's going to be very busy for us just to get used to the timetables again."

The teenagers groaned but did as the older girl had told them. Slowly, they stood up from their chairs and went towards the stairs that led them to their rooms. Harry gave Ginny a long, kind goodnight kiss that sent both teenagers shivers through their spines. The former was surprised that Ron had not said anything to them, but when they got separated they saw that it was because he was even more engrossed in Hermione than someone could consider possible.

Finally, Harry decided to pull a joke on his friend: "Hey, mate, would you mind not to do that in front of me? That's my sister the one you are kissing."

It worked like a charm: Ron jumped so fast and far from Hermione that one would have thought she was a spider.

"Sorry, Ron, couldn't resist," Harry said, chuckling at the discomfort of his best friend. Ron just scowled at him and said, softly: "Good night, Mione."

"Good night, Ron."

Ginny also went upstairs after wishing a good night to her boyfriend, but Hermione remained behind, a bit anxious about something Harry could not guess until she pulled him so that he didn't come upstairs.

"Harry, I need to talk with you about something."

"Sure, what's the matter?"

"Why… did you say that… thing about me being your… sister?" she asked, shyly.

Harry smiled sheepishly. "Well, I have always considered Ron and you as my brother and sister, as I told you when I knew you two where an item. I know it's not as good as having real siblings, but…" Harry was cut off when Hermione hugged him fiercely.

"Wow! What's that?"

Hermione was smiling when she let him go off, but a few tears were going down her cheeks. "I didn't know that, Harry. I always had thought of you as some kind of younger brother, but I didn't know that you felt the same. Thanks."

"No problem, sis. Remember about the prophecy? You are my Sister, and Ron is my Brother. Surely you should have seen that."

"Yeah, but I didn't make the connection," she replied, drying her tears. "Good night, Harry."

"Good night, sister." Harry snickered. Hermione smiled at him and went upstairs, too.

Soon, Harry was in his bed, and was slowly placing all his new thoughts in the proper places, as he had been doing since he had learnt Occlumency from Fabian Jennings. The newest improvement for his mind defences, the labyrinth, had been 'constructed' one or two weeks before that day, and he had scattered the safe boxes throughout it, the most important of them being the most far from the entrance. The only one that was out of the labyrinth was the one with the Patronus memories, and that one was pretty well hidden in the building that gave entrance to the labyrinth.

The short mental exercise helped Harry to calm down and soon he was dead asleep.

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"CRUCIO!"

Harry watched Lucius Malfoy writhe in the floor with pain. His right hand – _no, Voldemort's right hand_ – was holding a dark wand which was pointed to the silvery-blond man. There was other man beside him, covered with one of the masks.

"Just tell me how, Lucius. How could the perfect plan I had set up, the perfect attack you had been given command, go so badly that not only fifty Death Eaters didn't manage to capture Harry Potter or one of his friends, but they didn't kill anybody and _all_ of them were captured? Just tell me, Lucius. Because I want to know how someone could have been so incompetent that this attack has been a complete failure!"

Lucius Malfoy didn't open his mouth, and was trembling like a leaf, because he didn't know what to say, but also knew that not answering a direct question would take the Cruciatus Curse over him again, and that it did, for approximately one minute in Harry's count.

Harry was relieved that he had intensified his shielding before going to sleep, because he knew he wouldn't have been able to stand the pain that was being transmitted to him through the link between Voldemort's mind and his.

When Voldemort lifted the wand, Malfoy fell to the floor, panting and breathing without a rhythm. The Dark Lord then turned his head to the other Death Eater.

"Ambrosius, what did your son say about this abysmal failure in Lucius' attack?"

"My Lord," the man said, "my son Theodore called me with a special communication charm I had taught him a few minutes after the train departed. I told him that he was to get into the train and not to go out of one of the compartments. Apparently, someone within the Aurors must have been told about it, because the Head Auror asked everybody to get into the train since they had been warned about the attack. My son was not able to tell me in time because there were too many people that could have heard him talking with me."

"Very well. Tell your son to keep spying on Hogwarts, and to report anything useful to you. If he finds something important, he shall be rewarded."

"Yes, my Lord."

"You may go now."

Ambrosius Nott bowed and retired slowly towards the door, happy that he was going to escape punishment this day.

"Lucius," Voldemort said, turning his head towards the elder Malfoy, "have you solved that problem with your money?"

"N-no, Lord. My wife decided to take all the money out of our vaults and put it in another vault, one I do not have access to. Even though, I still have one vault in which I put a big deal of money, but I do fear it won't be enough to support your efforts for the war."

"Is that right? Well, then you shall do everything on your hand to procure me more money, or I'll make sure you will regret not being in Azkaban," Voldemort said with an infuriated tone.

"Yes, my Lord," Malfoy said, trembling while he started to move towards the door.

"I didn't give you permission to leave, Lucius. _CRUCIO_!"

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Harry woke up from his vision agitated and with his scar hurting, but did so with a little smile on his lips. Malfoy was really having a really bad night! And he deserved that and more, if possible! Then he went back to sleep again without a problem.

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The next day, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville and Ginny went downstairs together to have a good breakfast before the first class in the morning. While they came down, Harry told them about what he had seen in his last vision, and said he was going to try to talk with Dumbledore as soon as he could. Neville met Luna in the Great Hall and, after a short talk they separated again with a smile on their faces.

While they talked noncommittally, McGonagall started to deliver the timetables for the Gryffindors.

"Ohhh, I'm going to enjoy my first Snape-free year," Ron said, smiling.

"So am I," Neville replied. The boy was certainly glad of being far from the scary Potions Professor. "Sorry for you, Harry."

"No problem, Nev. At least, I have been able to show Snape how mistaken he was when he was talking about my skills, although I'm not sure if he will recognize it," Harry replied, causing chuckles between his friends."

"What I wonder now is how will he treat Draco when he steps into the class," Ginny said. In a point of the summer, all of them had realised that Snape had to spoil the Death Eater's children so that his cover as a spy wasn't blown up.

"Yeah, it'll be 'I love Slytherins and Death Eaters' against 'I hate Potter's friends and deserters'," Ron summed.

"That is sadly true," Harry replied with a smile. "We have DADA right now, and then Charms. I expect Professor Martin is not as idiot as Umbridge."

"Honestly, I doubt it," Hermione replied. "Ginny, what do you have today?"

"Transfiguration, Double Potions and Muggle Studies. Damn, when you guys told me this year was difficult, I didn't believe you, but now I do!"

"Don't worry, Gin. In the afternoons, we can always help you with your homework. Hermione can even lend you her notes on History of Magic."

"Harry!" the older girl said, like she was scandalized.

"Hey! Nobody should have to face Binns' lessons if helped. I'm sure that you are the only person in the whole school who is able to stand his battering enough time to take notes. I for one have never been able to stay awake the whole hour." Everybody laughed, even Hermione.

"It's time to go," Neville reminded them. "If we are fast, we may even be able to get the bests seats."

"Sure," the sixth years said. The five Gryffindors stood up and joined Luna while they went upstairs. On the corridor that lead to the Transfiguration, Ginny and Luna separated from the main group (Ginny gave Harry a good long kiss before that) and the older teenagers kept going upstairs. When they arrived at the door, they waited patiently for Professor Martin to show up while the other DADA N.E.W.T. students arrived from having their breakfasts. A few minutes before the bell rang the professor arrived to the classroom and opened the door, allowing the students to enter the room. Ron and Hermione picked the nearest seats, while Harry and Neville claimed the second line for themselves.

Harry looked around to see which students had managed to get into the class; he knew that with the dreadful lessons Umbridge provided to them, it was a little miracle the fact that there were so many people there. Harry counted the eight Gryffindors in his year (including himself), five Ravenclaws, four Hufflepuffs and only three Slytherins (Draco, Blaise Zabini and Daphne Greengrass). Except the Slytherins, all of them had been part of the DA last year, and that made Harry proud of them.

"OK, people," Professor Martin said to attract the attention of his pupils. "As I'm sure you remember, my name is Jonathan Martin, and I will be your Defence Against the Dark Arts professor this year. I have read the syllabus of last year's professor, and, frankly, I am really impressed to see that so many people have been able to pass the O.W.L.s with that idiot teaching here." The students laughed. "Could anybody enlighten me on who was the master mind behind that particular task?"

All the members of the DA pointed automatically to Harry, who blushed with the – more than usual – attention he was getting.

"I suspected it. After your speech yesterday, it would have been really hard to miss it. Mr. Potter, could you tell me what did you teach these boys and girls last year?"

"Erm, the basic things to know for a duel, I suppose. Disarming and Stunning spells, the Shield charm, the Reductor curse… that kind of things. On our last lesson before we got caught, we were covering the Patronus charm."

Professor Martin's eyes lightened. "The Patronus charm? Interesting, as I had planned this lesson to be about it. Who has ever managed to cast a corporeal Patronus?"

Harry, Hermione and Seamus raised their hands this time.

"Three people out of twenty, and with only a few days of practice? I've seen everything now," he muttered, chuckling.

"Harry's the expert here," Neville said with a smile. "He has been able to do it since he was thirteen." Not even the hardest nudge from Harry on his ribs shut him up.

"Impressive. Now, to the unpleasant part. Who is able to tell me how is a Patronus charm cast to make it enough powerful to drive a Dementor away?"

Twenty hands were raised into the air. The DA members still remembered what Harry had told them last year, Draco had been told by Harry how he had to do it and Blaise and Daphne must have read it in a book.

"Mr. Finch-Fletchley?"

"The first thing you need to do is to recall a good memory about something that has happened in your life, one that brings happiness to you, and then picture it clearly in your mind. When you have done that, you hold your wand pointing at where the Dementor stands, and say '_Expecto Patronum!_' while concentrating on the memory."

"Very good, ten points to Hufflepuff! Although everything you said is right, it is not complete. Does anybody know why?"

Only Harry raised his hand this time.

"OK. Mr. Potter?"

"It doesn't really need to be a good memory. You only have to think of something that makes you really happy, it doesn't matter if it is a memory or if it's something you want to happen."

"Ten points to Gryffindor! Where did you find that?"

"On my O.W.L. DADA exam, my examiner asked me to make the Patronus charm. I imagined that Umbridge was sacked from the school and there it is."

"Congratulations, Mr. Potter. Well, students, today we will spend the hour trying to do the charm."

For the next fifty minutes, all pupils tried to cast the Patronus charm. The professor gave ten points for each corporeal Patronus and five for each person who managed to do a mist which could be big enough to stop a Dementor by the end of the class. Gryffindor won seventy points (Dean and Lavender had not been able to cast the corporeal, but they still managed the mist), Ravenclaw twenty points (one corporeal and two mists) Hufflepuff twenty points (all mists) and Slytherin fifteen points (all mists, but Draco seemed to be about to make the corporeal).

"Congratulations to you all. I'm not going to ask you to do any homework, just practice the Patronus Charm and those who didn't manage it keep trying. You would never know when it is going to be useful."

Everybody thanked him and rushed to the Charms classroom, where more people joined them for the next lesson.

After fifteen minutes in which Professor Flitwick reminded them of the importance of the N.E.W.T.s, they reviewed a few charms they had been through the five last years, and then they left, telling them to read for the use of the Water Conjuring Charm, which they would learn the next class.

Harry now had a free hour since his friends were having Herbology. He didn't know what to do, but he thought he could have a look at that book about Hogwarts School's construction. It could be nice to see if he could build something that he and his friends would be able to use without many problems, some kind of a Haven that would help them to meet whenever they needed it, without being discovered…

_… and the Room of Requirement won't be useful because it is too far away from the dungeons, and if we are ever caught with needing to meet at midnight, Draco would have a really hard time… _

Then it struck him: why didn't he make a room that could communicate with all the common rooms of the castle? A way in which Draco could meet him and his friends whenever it was needed, maybe even where he could give his friends all the weapons?

_Well, I will know if it works only if I read this book, no?_

Harry took the book and looked in the index about how to construct new rooms and, specially, the part about the Room of Requirement. It would be very nice to have a special room made only for him and his friends.

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"Good afternoon, everybody," Moody growled to the students.

"Good afternoon, Professor Moody," everybody said.

Moody took a list out of his pocket and started to ask if each person was at class. Nearly all sixth-years had signed for the Advanced Practical Defence N.E.W.T. course, and the classroom was full.

"Welcome to Advanced Practical Defence," he said in his usual tone. "Dumbledore has set up this class so that you can get a few combat abilities that you may need in the future, especially if a Death Eater tries to attack you anywhere you are. The first thing you have to remember is to have CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" he shouted, but only a few people jumped. Harry had seen this coming, because he still remembered the fake Moody from his fourth year.

Moody also remembered that, because he said, "I see that Barty Crouch Jr. managed to do a good job with all of you. Very well, onto the next thing.

"One thing I am going to teach you is how to resist the Imperius Curse. It is not easy to do as so, but I know that all of you will be able to resist it. You may say that it is not very useful to learn that, but I can tell you that lots of people did really gruesome things just because they weren't prepared for facing a Dark wizard using the Unforgivables on him. Who wants to be the first?" he ended abruptly.

Harry stood up almost instantly.

"That's a good lad, Potter! Dumbledore told me what happened at the train station, and I don't think that ability of yours has vanished in only one day. Come here and look at the others. The rest, look at Potter's eyes, you'll see the difference there. _Imperio_!" he said, pointing his wand at Harry.

Again, like yesterday, Harry felt completely devoid of any feeling and like he was floating in the air.

_Put your wand over the table,_ Harry heard in his mind.

_I'm not really going to do it, you know_, Harry heard from the back of his mind, the one that prevented him from doing that kind of things.

Smiling inwardly, Harry took out his wand, but he pointed it at the ex-Auror and said "_Expelliarmus!_"

Moody's _Protego_ came out in milliseconds, deflecting with ease the Stunning Spell, and the sudden attack also stopped the Imperius Curse.

"Very well, Potter! Ten points to Gryffindor for your originality." Moody praised him. "As you have seen, Potter has attacked me when I had ordered him to put his wand on the table. If you manage to resist the Imperius Curse, always try to disable your opponent, whether it is with a Disarming Spell, a Stunning Spell or something in that league. Did anybody see what Potter showed to prove he wasn't affected by the Imperius?"

Hermione was the only one who raised her hand.

"Miss Granger?"

"His eyes," she said. "When you first threw the curse, Harry's eyes were a bit whitened and his pupils moved a lot, like if he was distracted, but a bit before he casted the Disarming Spell, he was concentrated on you and his eyes were not so misty."

"Exactly! Ten points for Gryffindor for your accuracy and your ability to see that little detail. Who wants to be next?"

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One hour later the thirty-six students were out of the classroom, practically running away from Mad-Eye Moody, who had taken as a personal task the fact that everybody had at least one round under the Imperius, with a promise that the next day he would start to show them new charms and spells for a battle situation.

When Harry arrived to the common room, he saw a few fifth-years sitting around a table with some books, and one of them was a fiery-haired brown-eyed girl who had Harry around her little finger. Ginny was incidentally with her back to Harry, so he went straight to her and put his arms around her.

"Hi, gorgeous," he said, kissing her neck softly.

"Hi, stranger," she replied, smiling.

"Are you very busy? Because I could use some company right now, you know."

"Just researching for Muggle Studies. We have been asking Colin about how televisions work, but so far he has only talked about how you can use the remote control," she said.

"You could ask Hermione later. I'm sure she would be happy to introduce you to the wonder-world of vacuum tubes," he replied nuzzling on her neck.

"Uh?" Ginny said, both distracted by the pleasant feeling on her neck and the odd thing Harry had said.

"Sorry, that's something televisions have to work. So, do you want to sit with me for a few minutes?"

"Mmm…" Ginny muttered, like if she was thinking about it. "Yes. This is the only homework we have been given today, so…" she stood up, took Harry by the hand to one of the couches next to the fire and sat with him.

"So, what did you do today in class?" Ginny asked

"The usual. Some talks about the importance of the N.E.W.T.s, a revision of everything we have learnt, and a good show with the Patronus and resisting the Imperius."

"The Imperius? Who was the idiot who did that?"

"Moody, who else?" Harry said, smiling at the choice of words of his girlfriend. "It was for the Advanced Practical Defence class, and I can tell you that he was very impressed when I shot a Disarming Spell towards him."

Ginny giggled. "I can bet that. Now, how about we have some good quality time before dinner."

"Thought you would never ask," Harry said, and kissed her passionately.


	15. 1 Hatching Egg Is Worth 1000 Closed

Chapter 15

One Hatching Egg Is Worth A Thousand Closed

The next few days went smoothly and without problems of any kind, not even in Potions. The first three classes, they had to do individual work with some potions and poisons in preparation for their future work in pairs. At least Snape had not been as big an arse as he usually was in the past; maybe it was due to the fact that Draco was now being friendly towards them, but he couldn't be sure of that.

Care Of Magical Creatures and Transfiguration had been the same as usual, but with more complicated things to learn about; while McGonagall dealt with human-to-animal transfiguration, and Hagrid showed them a few creatures that were in the Forest, like one of the Acromantulas he managed to pick out of the nest and showed it to the students while talking about the animal's magical abilities and all the properties of its venom.

Magical Healing was a completely different matter. It was taught by Madam Pomfrey at the Hospital Wing, a place Harry didn't like for obvious reasons (there was not a year in which he didn't have to stay at least one night in there). Harry learnt lots of healing charms and spells that would surely be useful if he or one of his friends ever got hurt, and he also started to learn how to diagnose illnesses.

One thing that was annoying Harry a lot was the fact that some girls were starting to stalk him between classes. It didn't matter the hour, neither the day, they were always there. Harry had a good idea about why they were doing that: after all, they had been looking at him in that scary way during the Welcome Feast. And Harry's fears were made real; he now had a group of groupies behind him 24/7.

Soon, it was Friday night. Harry was nervous because after dinner he would have to tell everybody in the school about the DA, its structure and the timetable for each group, maybe even give a speech about how important and/or serious it was. The only nice point about it would be to see certain people's reactions when they tried to sign the charmed contract.

"Earth to Harry, Earth to Harry. Harry, wake up," Ginny whispered in his ear.

Harry shook his head to stay awake, because he had been dozing off for a few seconds while thinking.

"Sorry, Gin. I am a bit nervous about this thing, between the Death Eaters and Voldemort outside, and the fact that I am going to give a speech about the DA in just a few minutes," Harry confessed.

"Don't worry, big boy," Ginny teased him. "You will do it greatly, you know it. Just stop worrying about what's happening outside and concentrate on what's happening inside the school. You are a great wizard, you know that," she said, unconsciously repeating the same words Hermione told him back in his first year, in the last obstacle towards the Philosopher's Stone.

"Thanks," Harry replied with a smile, and kissed her, just before the desserts disappeared from the plates on the tables. Dumbledore then rose from his seat.

"Please, all those people who are not interested in joining the Defence Association must leave the Hall right now, as well as those who are third years and below. Except you, Mr. Creevey," he told Dennis, who was the only third year who had been in the DA since it started. The young boy sat happily next to his brother while Harry stood up and went towards the High Table. When Dumbledore sat down again, Harry faced his companions and future pupils and then started to talk.

"Well, the first thing I'm going to tell you is that, for those who don't know about it, the DA was founded last year because Umbridge didn't let us study Defence Against the Dark Arts due to Fudge and her paranoid thoughts about Dumbledore trying to become Minister for Magic by means of 'lying' about Voldemort's return." Nearly all the students shivered. "Oh, come on, stop doing that. It's idiotic to shiver just because I said Voldemort. Anyway, Voldemort's true name is Tom Marvolo Riddle, and, believe it or not, he is a half-blood."

"But he hates all half-bloods and Muggle-borns!" someone shouted.

"No," Harry corrected, "he only says that because it was the only way to manage to get help from pure-blood maniacs like Lucius Malfoy and people like him. I'm pretty sure that if they knew the truth, they would leave him in a heartbeat. You really want proof of what I said? Look."

Harry took out his wand, gave his back to the students, and started to write in the air, with big black letters, _TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE_. Then he swished his wand and the letters moved forming the sentence_I AM LORD VOLDEMORT_.

"As you can see, his nickname is only an anagram he made up because he hated his father for leaving him and his mother. And another thing, if I ever hear somebody saying something stupid in the lines of 'You-Know-Who' or 'He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named' during the DA classes, you'll lose house points, no matter which house you are in.

"Before I continue talking about the DA, you will all have to sign this parchment," Harry said, showing the charmed contract. "Basically, you are accepting not to show anybody about what you will learn here unless it is to defend yourselves. You won't be able to join if it is within your plans to betray the school or the DA, especially if you are in league with Voldemort and the Death Eaters. Should you somehow manage to sign in even with that in your mind, there are more things that you will face, and I can tell you those protections are not something to laugh at."

Harry let that thought go through everybody's minds before conjuring a table in front of the stairs that lead to the High Table. Then he put the contract over it and conjured a white quill and an inkpot so that the students could write their names with it.

For a few seconds, nobody moved, waiting for someone else to sign the parchment. Ginny, Ron and Hermione were the first to do that, slightly exasperated at the others. They used the quill and wrote fluently on the parchment, which glowed lightly after someone signed. Harry's friends winked at him while they were doing it.

That was the cue for the other people. Draco stood up right after Hermione had signed, and, to the surprise of everybody, his name was accepted without a problem. Next ones were the former DA members, who remembered what had happened to Marietta last year, but also knew that Harry would never do something that could endanger them severely. Cho was in that group, and she tried to catch Harry's attention, but in vain.

Slowly, the members of the other houses approached to the table. One by one, they signed the parchment. A few people left the Great Hall instead of writing, maybe because they were not very fond of the idea of writing on a charmed contract. Most of these were Slytherins, but also a few Ravenclaws.

In the end, apparently everybody had signed, but Harry needed to be sure about it.

"Has everybody come here to write their names?" he shouted. Nobody answered, so Harry directed his gaze towards Theodore Nott, whom he didn't remember having showed up next to the table.

"Nott, I know you haven't written your name here, neither your friends."

"I have done it, Potter, just start with the interesting things," was the reply.

"No, you didn't."

Harry took the contract and whispered: "_Arguere non membrum_". This was a very useful charm he had found in the wards' book: if used on a magical contract, the person casting the charm would know who had not signed said contract in the room the contract was.

Nott, Parkinson, Crabbe, Goyle and Bulstrode glowed red, as well as all the professors.

"Believe me, I do know if you have signed or not. Now, come here and sign the contract or leave the Great Hall. Your choice."

Nott smirked and stood up from his seat, his right hand into his pocket. Harry could see that he was going to do a trick, and he tried to do some wandless and wordless Legillimency on the boy. For his surprise, it worked like a charm. Although he couldn't hear Nott's thoughts, he could 'read' his intentions, like Fabian had taught him once: he had been adamant on showing him that activating Legillimency in the middle of a battle was very useful and proved it to him in a duel which Harry won by a nail, but because he was very fast at thinking with his feet.

_So, you are going to use a magical quill for this, huh?_ Harry thought, amused. _You are going to have a big surprise right now, then._

When Nott arrived to the table, he took his hand out of the pocket. For an untrained eye, there was not anything in it, but Harry knew that there was a quill in his sleeve, and that he was about to do a switch.

Harry was looking carefully at the Slytherin's hand, and was rewarded when he saw that he had the white quill in his hand, but he also had a pink quill, carefully hidden behind the white so that it would look like he used the white quill.

It didn't work.

"Potter, what the hell is happening? Your quill won't work."

"Are you sure? Give it back," he replied, taking both quills from his hand. Harry used the white this time and his name was written smoothly on the parchment, which glowed again before swallowing the ink. "It works fine for me," he said giving the other boy the white quill.

"This is not the same quill I used before," Nott said in hushing tones.

"Professor Dumbledore, would you mind telling us what charms does this pink quill have?" Harry asked the Headmaster, giving him the quill Nott had used before. Dumbledore took it and performed some revealing charms on it.

"It has a magical-signature blocker on it, which would have prevented the one who used it on a magical contract to be included into said contract."

"Thanks, Professor. Just what I thought." Harry turned to Nott and gave him the quill. "I suggest you to keep that quill when you sign the contract with your daddy's boss. Something tells me you would rather use it in that circumstance," he told Nott, smirking.

Nott took hold of the quill and, before Harry could stop him, tried to sign again with the pink quill. The parchment glowed dark red and Nott turned his back, thinking he had won.

He thought otherwise when a burst of magic hit him square in his back, transforming his robes into a clown's fancy dress, completed with a green lime bowler hat, big shoes, red nose and a white (more white than normal) face.

All the Great Hall erupted into a big fit of laughter when Nott tripped with the hem of his now gigantic red and gold trousers and fell to the floor.

"Did you really believe that I would be as thick as to not to include an _Impervius_ charm against magic quills?" Harry shouted at him while he clumsily ran away, followed by his little troupe composed of Parkinson, Crabbe, Goyle and Bulstrode.

"OK, now that we have gotten rid of them," Harry said with a smirk, "we will start on to the important things." Harry took out his wand and closed the doors to the Entrance Hall with a flick, followed by some strong privacy charms that would not allow anybody to try to spy on the meeting.

"The first thing is that I have decided to separate everybody in two groups, Beginners and Veterans. In a nutshell, the Veterans will be the people who were in the DA last year, and everybody else will be in the other group. Of course, that may change in the future: for example, if someone from the Beginners' group feels that he or she is enough skilled to join the Veterans, I will test him, and if he does it well I will move him. Of course, that doesn't mean the Veterans have their position secured, they will go back to the Beginners if they are having problems with their work.

"Second place, the timetable. Professor Dumbledore has assured me that nobody is having classes in the afternoon at seven thirty, so the two groups will have one class of one hour and a half. That will start in two weeks' time to give you time to adjust yourselves to the new timetables. The Beginners will have it on Tuesdays and the Veterans on Wednesdays. I have been assured that you will be given enough time to come back to your houses in spite of the curfew starting at nine o'clock PM, but please go straight to your common rooms and do not try to push the limits of Mr. Filch or any professor you find on the way." That earned a few chuckles from the students. "There will also be one class on Sundays, from ten to twelve for Beginners and from two to four for Veterans." Harry was boo-ed from the younger's seats and also from some of the older's. "Yeah, I know it is very annoying having to go to class on a Sunday, but I fear that it is the only time in the timetable that would allow everybody to attend the classes. Of course that means it'll be a bit more packed, but I should point that I am going to be busier than most of you, because I have to go to all four classes as a teacher, my normal classes, Quidditch and a few independent studies I am doing right now." Harry had said that on purpose to placate the spirits of his fellow students, leaving the last bit of information with some air of mystery.

"Third, what you are going to do in the classes. I am going to teach you spells that are important and useful in a duel, but I will also teach you to improve things like your agility, your stamina, and your strength. For that, you are going to be into a scheduled physical training, which includes some running before breakfast." That raised more protests, especially from those who were not early-raisers, like Ron was before the summer started. "Hey, come on, it's not like I am asking you to do something impossible. Just consider that your homework. We are not going to have that time during the lessons. Those are going to be directed to the spell casting and the movements that could save your lives if you were in a real fight. Those movements and drills won't be useful if you are not fit enough to use them in a battle situation.

"The last thing in the agenda is an idea Professor Flitwick here has suggested that will help to test the skills of the DA; in April, just after Easter break, Hogwarts will hold a Duelling Tournament between the students. Everybody in the school will be allowed to join, but I am going to ask you to participate. During those duels you will see many people fighting between themselves, and they can give you new ideas about how to duel, how to move… really important things. I also have the bad news that I won't be allowed to participate in the Tournament. Nevertheless," Harry said to his peers and future pupils, who looked surprised at him with the last announcement, "should the finalist believe to be able to do so, he or she may be able to ask for a duel against me. Said duel would be held the day immediately after the finals. Thank you for hearing me, and I'll be looking forward to start teaching you next Tuesday."

Harry left his position under the strenuous applause of the other Hogwarts' students, while going straight towards the Gryffindor table, where all his friends were waiting for him.

Ginny was the first to reach him, and gave him a long kiss on the lips that Harry was anticipating from the moment he saw her. Ron saved him from the lack of oxygen by patting his shoulder.

"Hey, mate! When were you going to tell us about the tournament?" he asked, feigning some anger.

"Do you remember Charms' class on Wednesday?" he answered. That day, the tiny Professor had asked him to stay behind for a few minutes before going to eat. "Well, he told me that he had thought for years to organise some kind of Duelling Club, but the lack of good Defence teachers had always held him back. Since he knows that between Professor Martin and me we will have everything covered, he proposed it to me, and I agreed that it was a good idea. I had not told you because he had asked me not to say a thing until today, while he consulted with the rest of the staff. It was only half an hour ago that Dumbledore gave me the 'yes' and it was something that had to be told to everybody at the same time."

"Well, I can understand that," Ron replied, and he looked around. The Great Hall had emptied at a great rate, and only a few people remained behind: Cho Chang and Marietta Edgecombe from Ravenclaw; the sixth year Slytherins that had stayed at the meeting (Draco, Blaise Zabini, Daphne Greengrass, Tracey Davis and Rose MacCallister) and the Ministry Six (that is, the six who had gone to the Department of Mysteries last June). "But why aren't you going to participate?"

"Mate, I can wipe the floor with all of you. Do you really think anybody else, apart from the professors, would stand a chance against me?" Harry replied back with a cheeky grin. Ron only answered with a half-hearted punch to his shoulder.

"Hello, Harry," Draco said to his newest friend, then looked at the others. "Granger, Weasleys, Longbottom, Lovegood," he said. It was amazing to see how much had Draco changed in the last three months, both physically and psychologically. Since Harry had told him to have some physical training, he had taken to running around the Black Lake everyday as well as going to the Room of Requirement to use some of those exercising machines Harry had told him about on his first visit to Hogwarts. It was not easy to notice, but under his robes he was developing a good pack of muscles that would have made nearly every girl at the school drool.

The best was that now he had a very different personality, compared to the old Draco's one: instead of the usual petulance and arrogance, he was now a kind guy who never bragged about his inheritance or the usual things that, in the past, always made him look down at whomever was not a pureblood by his standards, like the Weasleys.

After Draco talked, an awkward silence appeared around them, until the blond boy talked again, "Well, I think first things are first. Ronald, Hermione, Ginevra, Neville, Luna, I'm sorry for insulting you and your families during the last five years. I know that it'll be very difficult for you to forgive me, but I am asking you to try to do it and then we can treat each other, if not friendly, at least in a civil way. What do you say?"

Saying that the two boys and the three girls were surprised was an understatement. None of them had ever heard Draco Malfoy apologizing to anybody, and less to talk to someone else using their given names instead of their surnames.

The first one to accept the apology was Luna, who smiled at him and raised her hand towards him. "I'd be glad to be your friend, Draco," she said in a happy tone, slightly imbibed with the eeriness that usually surrounded her.

One by one, in turns, the other four teenagers reached Draco and shook hands with him, accepting, if not his friendship, at least his trust. Even Ron joined them and made peace with his once biggest enemy thinking, _If Harry says that he is now safe, why can't I do the same as him?_

The other Slytherins approached them this time, shaking hands too and having a short chat with the Gryffindors and the Ravenclaw before heading back to the dungeons.

When Hermione reminded the others that they should get going back to their rooms a few seconds after the Slytherins left, Cho and Marietta, who had been discussing in hushed but fierce tones, went straight to the group.

"Harry," Cho said, with a smile and battling eyes, " Marietta has something to tell you."

"I'm sorry for snitching you to Madam Umbridge last June," she said in a hardly apologising tone, before looking at her friend like saying, 'Can I go now?'

"Apologies accepted," Harry replied in an equal cold tone before trying to leave, but this time he was stopped by Cho, who was tugging on his robe.

"Well, Harry, aren't you going to say something more?" she asked with a broad smile.

"Mmm, let me see… no," he said, getting his sleeve loose from Cho's grip and walking away with his friends before the Asian-looking girl tried to say something more.

Harry was not very surprised with the fact that his ex-girlfriend was trying, again, to come back with him, but the fact that she had thought that her friend's sneaking had been the reason why Harry had broken with her was, at least, laughable.

Luna left the group on the fourth floor, since Ravenclaw's tower was accessed from there, and the remaining Gryffindors kept going until they reached the seventh floor and went past the Fat Lady's portrait. Once there, they sat on the couches and started to laugh at Cho's discomfort when she had been outsmarted by Harry.

"Won't she ever give up?" Ginny asked with a mixture of anger and hilarity written on her face.

"Probably not," Hermione said. "She must be still obsessed with you. Harry, you should check if your saliva has some kind of highly addicting drugs in it, because I can't find another explanation."

Harry only snorted this time, as well as Ginny, but the other three laughed softly at Hermione's idea.

"Changing matters," Ginny said, obviously wanting to forget that her boyfriend had been (briefly) romantically involved with the Ravenclaw Seeker, "what do you think about the Slytherins? That surely was surprising, at least for me. I imagined that Draco would join the DA, but the other four?"

"Well, before Draco changed sides, he had too much pull within Slytherin House so that nobody tried to join us, but now that pressure has been lifted, because none of the five pro-Voldemort sixth years have a lot of influence in there," Neville explained, once more showing the great change he had had since last year.

"That would be the reason, Nev. Anyway, do you think the pro-Voldemort Slytherins will give us a lot of problems this year?" Hermione said, with some concern in her voice.

"Well, should Tom try to attack the school, I wouldn't put past him to ask them to attack us from behind. At least we can count on the fact that those are a minority in that house," Harry reflected.

The five friends kept talking for a few minutes, enjoying the warmth and the cosy environment provided by the fire and the couches (Neville wasn't, due to the fact that his girlfriend was not there) until they decided to call it a night and went to their comfortable beds, where all of them went asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillows.

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The next day, the group was having a very hearty breakfast that would give them strength for the lots of things they had planned for that day: since they had, somehow, managed to finish all their homework (even Ron, who had a tendency of procrastinating), they had thought of visiting Hagrid in the morning and talk with him, then have a picnic to eat and finally enjoy the sunny day.

Harry was now having a good ration of scrambled eggs when the morning post arrived, causing the usual flapping noise that the hundreds of owls provoked. Harry smiled when five owls landed in front of him, dropping a white box.

"Finally! I've been waiting for this for weeks!" Harry said, still grinning like mad. In one of their lessons about Elemental Magic, Harry had asked Professor Dumbledore if he could have a perch like the one he had in his office for Fawkes. The old Headmaster had told him he would ask a friend of his that did personalised working with metal and wood, and it had been nearly a month since then, because, even with magic, it was very difficult to make something with very little details as Harry had asked to do, and even more to enchant both the metal and the wood so that they did not burn or melt with the fire phoenixes exploded with when it was their Burning.

Ron swallowed the piece of bacon he had on his mouth and asked: "Is that the…?"

Harry nodded. "And in a good moment, too. The egg has been making some movements that, according to the book, are signals that the bird is going to go out of the egg in a day or so."

"Why don't you take the egg to Hagrid's? I'd bet he would love to see how phoenixes are born," Ginny proposed with a smile.

Harry smiled again at his girlfriend. He loved the way her mind worked, and this wouldn't be the last streak of genius she had.

"Good idea, Gin. Ask Draco if he wants to come with us while I run upstairs to get it. I'll see you down here, OK?" When everybody else nodded, Harry stood up and went to his room, where the before multicoloured egg stood. In that moment, it was glowing red, like fire, as the book said it was a few moments before the egg hatched. Harry ran back to the Great Hall, with Hedwig perched on his shoulder (she had been watching the egg with care when Harry wasn't able to do it) and met everybody in the Great Hall, from where they went straight to Hagrid's hut.

The half-giant had been the first wizard Harry had ever met after being sent to live with the Dursleys and Harry had always held a very big space in his heart for him. He may be a bit strange with his love for dangerous animals, but he was still a great person.

They found Hagrid sitting in front of his hut, cleaning some beans.

"Hi, Hagrid!" Hermione said with a smile.

"Good mornin' to you all!" he replied with one of his big grins. "I know it's bin on'y a few days, but I 'ave miss'd you all."

"So do we, Hagrid," Harry replied, carefully hugging him so as not to drop the phoenix egg.

"Holy blazes, 'Arry! You' phoenix is goin' to hatch soon!" Hagrid said.

"I know. We brought it here because we knew you would like to see it hatching."

Hagrid smiled at them. "You know me too well. An' it's nice to see you again, Draco."

Draco smiled. "Yes. How are Buckbeak and your brother?"

"Very well, thanks. Shall we get inside?"

Harry nodded and followed Hagrid into the hut. They would have been cramped, but Harry used a charm that made the room bigger than usual.

"Tha's nice of you, 'Arry," Hagrid said.

"You're welcome. I'm going to start to assemble the phoenix perch before the egg hatches," Harry replied. He knelt down, opened the white box and took all the pieces out of it, which he put in its place according to the instructions the craftsman had sent him.

In a few minutes, the perch stood in the middle of the room. It was really pretty: both the plate and the bar for the phoenix to Burn and stand – respectively – were made of pure gold, and magical runes had been engraved on them to protect the perch from melting and the phoenix from falling right after a Burning. The mahogany stand had been engraved with a different set of runes, which protected the wood from burning and from breaking. According to the craftsman, Harry would be able to place a few decorations in the perch without damaging the piece of art he had been sent.

But now it was the moment to see how phoenixes were born. Harry put the red egg carefully over the plate and waited there, patiently looking at it.

A few minutes after that, the egg changed to a more intense red colour than the one before. Orange waves were running up the egg, and, unexpectedly, it caught fire. Everybody but Harry and Hagrid worried about it, fearing that the fire would be bad for the bird, until a song started to sound from the fire. It was the phoenix song!

Slowly, the flames were put down, like if a soft wind were blowing in the hut. Even before the fire died completely, Harry could see the mound of ashes which was the only thing that rested from the egg, and, if you looked carefully, you could see a few of the phoenix's feathers stretching out.

Once all the flames had died down, Harry went towards the perch and, digging carefully between the ashes – which he didn't throw away, because those ashes were very powerful potion ingredients – he took the tiny new born phoenix.

The three girls cooed when they saw the phoenix, while the boys were awed to see one of the rarest magical beings in the world being born. He was approximately the size of a chicken, and it had little red and golden feathers covering its body. Its wings were not well developed, so it wouldn't be able to fly yet, but it still was able to do some of the best known abilities of a phoenix, as they discovered soon.

"Look!" Hermione said when the baby phoenix flashed and appeared on Harry's shoulder. Then, in a swift move, he pecked Harry on the base of his neck to make him bleed. The phoenix drank a few drops of Harry's blood and then he sealed the injury with some tears.

Harry smiled with some confusion written on his face. "Don't worry; that was the bonding ceremony between the phoenix and the one he chooses as his companion. Although I have to say this is strange," he continued while picking the phoenix again with his hands.

"Why?" Draco asked.

"Phoenixes on'y bon' with a wizard when the wizard has won their trus', and tha' usually happens after a lot o' time. It seems this tiny guy trus'ed you even befor' he came out o' the egg," Hagrid explained while caressing the head of the golden bird.

_Wow!_ Harry thought to himself. _This is really great! _

_Master? Is that you?_ a tiny voice chirped in Harry's mind.

It took a moment for Harry to recognise who was talking now. _Is that you, er… phoenix?_

_Yes, Master, it's me. Every phoenix that bonds to a wizard is able to talk with him telepathically from the moment they bond. I had to hurt you because for us phoenixes it makes the strongest connection, and the nearest to the magical core the most powerful the bond between wizard and phoenix will become._

Harry smiled. _Well, I think I should ask you first how I should name you. Calling you 'phoenix' every time I want to talk with you sounds really rude._

_I suppose you are right_, the phoenix replied, while he was being admired by Harry's friends. _You can give a name that is related to fire, or the sun, or something related with that. _

_What about Ra?_ Harry asked. He remembered the history classes he had been given when he was in the Muggle primary school. The Ancient Egypt was a favourite of his, he especially liked the hieroglyphics because they were very funny, and the names of the gods had been in an exam. He had not scored well in that exam, but he had held back because he knew that if he had better marks than Dudley he would be punished. _Ra was the Sun God, and I think it is very appropriate to you, don't you think? _

_Ra, I like that,_ the phoenix said.

_I'm happy you like it_, Harry told him.

_May I ask you something, Master?_ Ra said.

_Of course! And please, call me Harry._

_There is something within you that I feel familial with, some kind of a double nature within you, like an animal… _

_Ah! _Harry said. _I am an Animagus, which is a wizard who can transform himself into an animal. I can be a phoenix; maybe that is what you are detecting. _

_Yes. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to sleep; I need to gain strength for growing up. _

_Don't worry, I'll make sure you are not disturbed,_ Harry told the chick, putting him back on the plate. Then he realised everybody else was looking at him.

"Harry, are you OK? You kind of zoned out for a few minutes," Ginny asked.

"I was having a conversation with Ra. The phoenix," Harry replied when his friends didn't catch the name. "Apparently, when a phoenix bonds with a wizard, they can talk in their minds. And he pecked me in the neck because he wanted to make the bond between us the strongest," he explained.

"Wicked!" Ron said, impressed.

"Shhh! Ra is trying to sleep. I should take him back to our dorm. I'll be here again in a heartbeat." Harry transformed into his phoenix form and grasped the perch with his talons, disappearing next to his bed and coming back few seconds after leaving.

"What do you think about Ra, Hagrid?" Harry asked the half-giant.

"He's nice, 'Arry. I've never seen a phoenix right after they are born. I 'ave been with Fawkes a few times, but 'e was nothing like Ra," Hagrid replied with a smile.

"Good," Harry replied. The seven kids stayed for a few hours, talking with Hagrid about a lot of things, and when lunch time arrived they took the picnic basket. It had been a very nice morning after all

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Weekend ended too soon, and they went back to classes without too much pressure over them. Harry had to take care of Ra and Hedwig now, but it was not very difficult to do.

Classes were now a bit more difficult than last week, which Harry and his friends thought was because the professors had let them adjust their timetables to the new situation. All the fifth years were swamped with homework, but with Harry, Hermione, Ron and Neville helping them, Ginny and Luna always managed to complete their assignments in due time.

Ron was looking forward to the Quidditch tryouts, which would be held next Saturday. Gryffindor had lost four members since last year (the twins, Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet) and the beaters' who had replaced Fred and George, Andrew Kirke and Jack Sloper, had said that they would rather sit out of the game this year.

The week passed slowly, with few things that could be said to be remarkable. The Daily Prophet had not reported about any Death Eater attack, and Harry supposed it was because Voldemort's attempt on the Hogwarts Express had made him lose a big deal of his supporters. The young man snorted every time he remembered that Death Eater's face when the Portkey didn't work!

Before Harry could think, it was again a Saturday, and they would now be holding the tryouts. The Gryffindor co-captains had promised to be impartial (at least not very partial) when they had to choose someone for the team, meaning that Ginny would have to win his position. Harry didn't doubt she would do it, and he was looking forward to the celebration they would surely have after the tryouts.

"You ready, Harry?" Ron asked for the umpteenth time at breakfast.

"Ron, please, give me a moment. I, unlike you, have not the ability of eating our breakfast in less than a minute, which means that I'm not finished yet," Harry answered his friend, a bit angry with him and his obvious excitement.

"Oh, Ron, please, calm yourself. It won't do any good if you crisp everybody's nerves just because you are nervous," Ginny scolded her brother, who looked outraged at her. Fortunately for him, Harry was able to finish with his breakfast before Ginny hexed her brother badly.

"Come on, there are going to be a lot of people there, and the sooner we have all the team the better," Ron said.

"Coming," was Harry's answer. Katie joined them and the three went to the Quidditch changing rooms. There, after they changed into their robes, they discussed what they would do.

"How much time do you think we will be out there?" Ron asked.

"It'll be a lot of time," Katie said. "I've heard a lot of people that said they wanted to try out. It'd be a good thing that you called out all those who are not in our house; I wouldn't put it past them to try that."

"Good thinking," Harry said. "I'm sure those girls that have been stalking me will show up, too."

"Stalkers, Harry?" Katie asked, giggling.

"Not very funny, I can tell you," Harry grunted, "when they follow you twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and the only thing you can tell is that they look at you like if you were a piece of meat."

Katie smiled, but didn't say anything else.

"I believe that we should hold the Chasers' and the Beaters' tryouts before anything else," Ron proposed. "That would cut out the time and it would help to provide us with better elements."

"It's a good idea. Shall we?" Harry said, nodding towards the pitch. There were around seventy people on the pitch, and Harry could say that at least twenty of them were not really going to participate in the tryouts, because ten of them were girls whose giggling was going to crate on his nerves, and the others didn't even have their brooms.

"Let's get on with the show," Harry muttered and used a _Sonorus_ charm on his throat. "All right, all those who are not going to participate in the tryouts please leave the pitch to the hopefuls. I don't want to lose my time with you. That includes those who are not Gryffindors," he included.

The twenty that Harry had spotted, as well as a few Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs went out of the pitch. There were still some forty people in the group.

"Thank you. Now, please separate yourselves in the positions you want to try out for. The Chasers and Beaters over there with Katie Bell, Keepers with Ron Weasley and Seekers with me."

Only five people stayed with Harry, who used a _Quietus_ to stop the yelling; the others separated between his friends.

"What do we have to do, Mr. Potter?" one of the boys asked.

"Just Harry, boys," Harry answered with a chuckle. "We are last because Chasers are the thing we need the most right now. You can still join the reserve team if you are good enough, so don't worry about not making the starter."

"Well, with you in the team we thought it was rather stupid to try that," the same boy said with a nervous giggle.

"Well, I still need to find someone that will substitute me when I leave the school and, providing my bad luck, I'll sure miss one match this year."

The boys smiled and stood to watch the tryouts for the Chasers and the Beaters. Ron was on the goals, and was going to be the obstacle for the to-be-Chasers. The Beaters would be playing in two groups, half of them would be the defender Beaters and the other half would be the attacker: the first would have to knock out the Chasers; the second would have to defend them. They would alternate their positions so as to show their ability with their bats.

The first hopefuls were not very good, and were replaced soon. One of the biggest surprises was watching Neville tryout for Beater. He had not expected the ex-clumsy boy to join the team, and he was doing very well. All that work out during the summer had helped a lot in developing the muscles of his upper body, and he may have been able to train with his broom in the summer. Harry could tell he was doing it very well.

But the best performances were those of Ginny and Dean Thomas. Ginny seemed to have a natural ability when playing Chaser, like Harry at Seeker, and Dean was putting his Muggle sports' practice to play, and some of his shots at goal did not enter thanks to some good saves by Ron.

After more than two hours, Harry had put down on a list who he had liked the most and why. Said list had seven names or so on the Chasers' list, and six on the Beaters'. Ginny and Dean were on the first list, and Neville and the Creevey brothers were – surprisingly - on the second one.

_Who would have thought those two half-crazy boys could work as well as Gred and Forge?_ Harry thought with a smile. Those two had been able to do a good work with their bats, to the point that they nearly knocked one of the Chaser-hopefuls down his broom, and only a swift move made by Ginny managed to keep the boy on the broom.

Since they now had to find a reserve Keeper, they held now the tryouts for those. Katie and a few of the trying Chasers would be the ones testing their abilities around the hoops.

Half of them didn't even manage to stop one shot, so they were dismissed from the pitch soon. There were still five possibilities to choose who would substitute Ron should something happen to him.

The seventh one was Vicky Frobisher, the girl that last year had tried out for Ron's position and had supposedly outflew him but had not joined due to being in too many groups. Harry could tell that she was a good flier, but she didn't manage to stop three easy shots that entered the goals. Harry wrote about the possibility of having her as the Reserve Keeper on his notes.

While the next two tried to stop the ball, a seventh year boy approached Harry with his broom.

"Potter?" he asked. Harry knew that he was called McLaggen because he had heard Percy talk with him long ago, but they had never crossed a word.

"What do you want, McLaggen?"

On first sight, Harry couldn't know, but as the older guy started to talk, he realised that McLaggen was very full of himself, and really arrogant.

"I just wanted to tell you that I know that I'm much better than all those who are trying out at the Keeper position. I am even better than Weasley, and frankly I don't know why you keep him in the team if it's obvious he can't compare with me. Besides, I am sure you would like to know that the Head of the Auror Group, Rufus Scrimgeour, is a friend of my father, so…" he left the sentence unfinished. Harry was not impressed with him.

"Well, McLaggen, if you really think you are better than all those who are trying out at the Keeper position, you should really show it instead of bragging here. Ron has played more games than you and he really is very good in his position. And talking about contacts, my friend's father is your father's friend's boss, so please don't pull that card. Only if you really prove you are the best, you'll get the position."

McLaggen went back to where he had been before going to talk with Harry with anger. He had thought that just with boasting about his abilities would give him the Keeper position he should have been given without actually having to prove it.

Harry paid his attention back to the tryouts. Finally, the last three ended their performances without success – McLaggen wasn't even able to stop one shot. Harry asked himself where would have that guy thought he was any good at Keeping and then told the last hopefuls, the Seekers.

"OK, guys, this is your time now. I am going to release the Snitch and you are going to try to catch it. Wait for my signal. Feel free to do any moves you consider necessary to win, but I will not consent to dirty play, understood?" Harry told them. The four boys and the girl nodded and mounted their brooms. Then Harry released the Snitch.

"You can go in three… two… one… NOW!" Harry shouted, and the five boys kicked on the ground hard to start flying.

In less than fifteen minutes, Harry had decided that three of the hopefuls wouldn't get the position. They flew well, but they didn't have the control and reflexes required to be a good Seeker.

The last two were the only girl and one of the boys: Natalie McDonald, whom Harry remembered as being a third year, was riding a Nimbus 2000, like the one Harry had during his first two years and the first match of his third year in the Gryffindor Quidditch team. The boy, Euan Abercrombie, had a Cleansweep Eleven, like Ron's.

In the end, it was Natalie the one who won, catching the Snitch with a rather dangerous manoeuvre that nearly resulted in a smash with Euan, but the latter managed to turn his broom away in the last second.

"Very well, guys – and girl," he added for Natalie's benefit. "We will have the list of players tonight, so have a look at the notice board tomorrow."

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_Gryffindor's Quidditch Team for this year will be as it follows: _

_ Starter Team Reserve Team _

_Keeper Ron Weasley (C) Vicky Frobisher _

_Chaser 1 Katie Bell Geoffrey Hooper _

_Chaser 2 Ginny Weasley Seamus Finnegan _

_Chaser 3 Dean Thomas Emma Dobbs _

_Beater 1 Colin Creevey Neville Longbottom _

_Beater 2 Dennis Creevey Jimmy Peakes _

_Seeker Harry Potter (C) Natalie McDonald_

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OK, this is the next chapter. I know it's been a lot, but I have been very busy. Don't worry, there will be more chapters soon!

About the identity of the Musician... I've only had one person talking about it, and he/she was mistaken. Also, I think that it is very sad that so many people read this story but I only have 13 reviews in total. Please, Review!!!


	16. How to survive a Weasley Family Prank

Chapter 16

How to survive a Weasley Family Prank

The next few weeks went by slowly for everybody in the school. Harry's schedule was really cramped, between normal classes, Quidditch trainings, teaching the Defence Association and, from the third week of September, more training in Elemental Magic with Dumbledore and Legillimency and Mindspeech with Fabian. Fortunately, he didn't have to go to the Animagus lessons that Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Neville and Luna, were going to, so he usually spent those moments doing any homework he had or practising the Parselmagic in the Room of Requirement.

The first Potions class of October, which was on a Tuesday, Snape told them to pair off for their work.

"From now, you will be working in pairs. Some of the potions you will be making this term will have to be used as an ingredient in other potion, and you'd better follow _all_ the instructions," he sneered, looking directly at Harry, "because the tiniest failure in the first potion could provoke a big reaction in the second one. Today, you will make a Clearing Draught, which you will be using as an ingredient for the Dreamless Sleep Potion. I suggest that you copy all the instructions before starting with the process."

Harry and Hermione paired off immediately. The others got in couples, always within the same house, but Draco decided to choose someone else as a couple.

"Susan?" he asked, hesitantly, to the brown-haired girl. "Do you mind if I sit with you for making these potions?"

Susan looked at him with half-a-smile. "OK. Less chances of being shouted at," she told him, pointing at the seat next to her.

Everything was going smoothly, with people chopping ingredients and stirring cauldrons, when Harry suddenly took his wand out and fired a Containment Charm to something that was flying towards Draco's cauldron.

"Mr. Potter, could you give me one reason why you did that so that I do not expel you from this class?" Snape asked Harry.

"Yes, Professor. I saw someone throwing a root from Draco's right side. I wasn't able to recognise it before I hit it, but I was sure that it could cause a bad reaction."

Snape went to the table Draco and Susan were working, took the root and stood up. Harry was able to recognise it as a _Tentacula Venomosa _root. If Harry did remember correctly from the Potions' book, the venom in that plant did not react with a lot of things, but one of said things was the shrew blood that was part of the potion they were making right now. Said reaction could cause a big poisonous smoke to go out of the cauldron, probably strengthened by the moonstone, which was the main ingredient since it could help to stabilise the emotions for clearing the drinker's mind.

"Who did this?" Snape said, angrily. "This could have killed any of you in a few minutes if it had fallen into Mr. Malfoy's cauldron. You should be thankful that Potter was able to stop it. I won't repeat it: who did this?"

Nobody said anything, but Harry knew it had been either Parkinson or Nott, who were the only ones that could have thrown the root from the direction Harry saw it coming. He didn't expect Snape to use Legillimency on them so that he could attest, publicly, for the first time, that it had been a Slytherin the one who had tried that stunt, so it was a surprise when he gazed directly at Parkinson and used the Mind Reading charm on her in its subtle way.

"Miss Parkinson, twenty points from Slytherin and one detention with Mr. Filch for endangering your fellow students," the Potions Master said.

"What?" she shrieked, which was the only sound in the room apart from the bubbling of the cauldrons. Snape taking points from Slytherin was something that could go to the history books.

"If you don't want to make it fifty, I suggest you to keep working in silence," he snarled.

Harry looked at the Potions Professor with his eyes wide open, as were all the people in the class, but when Snape looked at them they went back to work.

"OK, who the heck is that guy and what did he do with Snape?" Hermione whispered to Harry while she handed him the powdered spearfish spines.

"I don't have any idea, but I know that if he keeps up with that he may have problems with his cover as a spy," Harry whispered back at his friend, slowly pouring the powder into the potion and stirring anti-clockwise until all the powder was into the potion. Right after stopping to stir the potion turned turquoise, like it had to be according to _Advanced Potion-Making_.

"Good," Hermione said. Now it was Harry's turn to prepare ingredients while Hermione watched the potion. They had made a deal about doing that when they had to work in pairs, to prevent any 'accidents' like the one Parkinson had tried to provoke a few moments ago.

In the end, they were able to complete the potion without a problem and present it to Snape, who accepted it.

"Potter, a word before you leave, please. Granger, you can leave."

Surprised at that, Harry waited next to the professor's table while Hermione went out.

"Well, Potter, I'm sure you are wondering about why I am asking you to stay here," he said. Harry nodded, confused.

"There are a few things I have to tell you, which I have informed Dumbledore recently but you need to know immediately. For instance, the Dark Lord knows you have reformed the Defence Association, but he doesn't have the means to spy on your meetings after your trick with the contract. He may try to infiltrate someone, but since he does not know you can see who has not signed it, it'll be easy to face that.

"You also must be careful when you are near some Slytherins, particularly Nott and Parkinson. They may be given instructions to send you to Voldemort or to harm you or your friends in some way, so tell them to be careful, too. That one goes double for Draco, since he has to share a room with Nott.

"Finally, I meant to give you something that I hope will help you with your training." Snape stood up and went to his office, from where he came back with a package the size of a deck of cards. The older wizard said _Engorgio_ and Harry saw that he had brought a set of books.

"All these books are copies I managed to make from the Dark Lord's personal ones during the last two months. They are all written in Parseltongue, I think, so only you and the Dark Lord are able to read this, and I doubt he notices I sneaked these."

"Wow," Harry gasped. In the cover he could read _I am Lord Voldemort_ and down that _My knowledge will be hidden from mere mortals_. "Thank you, Professor."

"You may show that to Professor Dumbledore, but either way you must keep these books hidden. If a word of this reached the Dark Lord's ears…"

"Don't worry, Professor. I know that you have risked your life to find these, and I'll make sure it hasn't been in vain."

"You may leave then, Professor Potter," Snape dismissed him.

Harry stood up and left, already peering on the first book of the series.

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The first Saturday of October, Harry woke up rather early. It had been one heck of a good month, the one in Hogwarts. Harry had showed Dumbledore the books and told him a bit about what was written on them, which were various charms and spells that Voldemort had learnt during his life, especially after he left Hogwarts. The Headmaster told him to read the books but not to try anything before asking him, which Harry promised to do.

Today, Harry had planned to spend the day with Ginny: after doing all their homework, they were going to fly on the Quidditch pitch for some time, and then they would have a walk on the grounds.

When Harry and Ron got dressed, they went to the common room, and saw that Hermione was waiting for them.

"Do you know where Ginny is?" Harry asked while Ron greeted his girlfriend with a kiss.

"No. Would you like me to go upstairs and have a look?" Hermione said.

"Yes, please," Harry replied, grateful.

Hermione ran upstairs and came back soon.

"Sorry, Harry, but she is not in her bedroom. Her dorm mates told me she left a note for you saying she had to go to check something to the library, but she would explain later in breakfast."

Harry felt a little hurt that Ginny would do something like that without telling him directly, but he hid it.

"Should we go to the library or directly to breakfast?" Ron asked.

"I think the second. We can save Ginny a seat that way if she arrives a bit late," Hermione decided, and the trio went downstairs.

In the Great Hall, Harry left a seat free between himself and Hermione for Ginny. During the next fifteen minutes, seven girls - two of them weren't Gryffindors even - tried to sit there in the hopes of trying to catch Harry, but both Harry and Hermione told them - first politely, then a bit more rudely when it started to grate on Harry's nerves - to find another seat for themselves.

Half an hour after they arrived to the Great Hall, Ginny had not come yet, and Harry was getting worried. Just in that moment, the owl post entered the Great Hall. Immediately, a barn owl landed in front of Harry, with an orange envelope tied to its leg.

"It's Bill's owl," Ron told Harry. "Why is he writing to you?"

"I have no idea, but let's see." Harry opened the envelope and started to read the letter.

_Our dearest Harry James Potter,_

_Hi! This is Bill, Charlie, Fred and George. We are writing this letter in hopes that you can pass what we - that is, the Weasleys brothers - like to call Weasley Family Prank!_

When I heard from my dear Mom that you and Ginny were an item, I was really happy. My favourite sister has had all of us around her little finger, and I know that her favourite story when she was a little cute girl was how you beat Voldemort.

**Stop with that, Charlie! Well, what my brother wants to say is that this prank - which counts, believe it or not, with the blessing of our parents - is our way to welcome you officially into our family, and you won't be able to avoid it, no matter what you do.**

**_For starters, you may have noticed that Gin-Gin (don't tell her I called her that) is not down there in the Hall with you._**

Harry was surprised. How did they know that?

_That's because we managed to enter her room and 'kidnap' her. She is still in Hogwarts, though I won't tell you where she is, so that you don't try to 'rescue' her and foil our prank._

Next thing is that your backside is currently stuck to the seat in which you are. Said Sticking Charm, which was applied on you right after opening this letter, will wear out in a few minutes, when the next part of the prank starts.

**Don't look at little Ronniekins in hopes of help, because although he knew we were going to do something, he doesn't know what we are going to do.**

"Ron! You could have told me about your brothers' prank!" Harry said, desperate.

Ron smiled. "Sorry, mate. I was forbidden to talk about it under threats of an embarrassing prank."

Harry huffed exasperated and kept reading.

**_In a few minutes, a new letter will arrive. I can say it's not for you, but rather for the whole school, because nearly everybody will be involved in this most fabulous prank we have devised._**

_Please, don't disappoint us by failing to pass this test. Of course, we love the fact you are with Ginny, so don't you dare leave her or the four of us plus Ron will kill you - that is, if Ginny has not killed you yet._

_H_a**v_e _**_f_u**n**

_Bill, _Charlie, **Fred _and George_**.

**P.D: Don't worry; we have made sure that you are not harmed.**

Harry smashed his head against the wooden table. Why did everything happen to him?

"Harry, stop! You will injure yourself!" Hermione admonished.

"Well, if you just tell me how to stop a Weasley Prank to hit me full, I'd be most grateful."

Hermione was about to say something, but was interrupted when a lonely owl entered the Great Hall, carrying a red envelope on her beak.

"Bloody Hell! Who is going to receive a Howler?" Ron said.

"_A Howler_?" Harry said. This was getting worse each minute.

After a few seconds, the owl dropped the Howler between Gryffindor's and Hufflepuff's tables, and it exploded in the air.

_"GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING, HOGWARTS! I AM BILL WEASLEY, AND I AM GOING TO PRESENT YOU WITH ONE OF THE BEST PRANKS ANY WEASLEY HAS EVER PLANNED AND STARTED IN THE WHOLE STORY OF HOGWARTS!"_

_Damn, damn, damn, damn!_ Harry thought, hitting his head with the table each time.

_"YOU MAY BE WONDERING WHO IS GOING TO BE THE UNFORTUNATE PERSON WHO WILL BE ON THE RECEIVING END OF THIS PRANK! WHY, IT'S NONE OTHER THAN THE SAME HARRY POTTER!"_

At this point, nearly everybody looked at Harry, who instantly blushed at the unwarranted attention he was receiving.

_"BEFORE THE PRANK STARTS, I AM GOING TO TELL YOU A FEW THINGS ABOUT MAGICAL CREATURES THAT PROFESSOR HAGRID MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE TOLD YOU._

_"AS A LOT OF PEOPLE CAN ATTEST, ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO ATTENDED THE WORLD CUP FINALS TWO YEARS AGO, VEELAS HAVE A RATHER INTERESTING EFFECT ON MEN THAT ARE AROUND THEM. FOR THOSE WHO DON'T KNOW, THE VEELA CHARM IMPULSES MEN TO DO OR SAY THE MOST EXTRAVAGANT THINGS TO SEDUCE THE VEELAS._

_"A HARDLY KNOWN THING IS THE FACT THAT VEELA MEN ALSO EXIST, BUT THEY ARE HIDDEN AWAY BECAUSE OF THE EFFECT THEY HAVE ON NORMAL WOMEN: A WOMAN AFFECTED BY A VEELA MAN WILL TRY TO SEDUCE HIM, TOO, BUT INSTEAD OF BRAG AND DO STUPID THINGS, LIKE MEN, THEY WILL RESORT TO MORE DRASTIC MEASURES TO ENSURE THEIR OBJECTIVE._

_"IF EVERY GIRL IN THIS SCHOOL WOULD LIKE TO HAVE A LOOK AT MR. POTTER NOW, THEY WILL NOTICE THAT THEIR PROBABLY BIGGEST DREAM NOWADAYS HAS BEEN PULLED INTO REALITY, SINCE YOU ARE GOING TO HELP US WITH THE PRANK: RIGHT NOW, NEARLY ALL HARRY'S CLOTHES ARE COMPLETELY TRANSPARENT, SO YOU ARE ABLE TO LOOK AT HIM IN ALL HIS GLORY!"_

Harry looked at himself and saw that, as Bill was saying, his robes were completely transparent, as well as his trainers and socks. _At least they didn't touch my boxers_, Harry thought, miserably, not noticing the lustful looks he was receiving from nearly a half of Hogwarts' population.

_"WELL, HERE ENDS THE MAGICAL CREATURES CLASS, AND STARTS THE FUN! FOR THE NEXT TWELVE HOURS, STARTING WHEN I SHOUT 'GO!', HARRY WILL BE, UNDER ALL EFFECTS, A VEELA MAN, WHICH MEANS HE WILL ATTRACT ALL GIRLS LIKE A FIRE ATTRACTS MOTHS! GUYS, DON'T BE ANGRY WITH HARRY, HE DOESN'T HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THIS!_

_"FOR YOUR INFORMATION, HARRY, EVERYBODY IN THIS ROOM HAS BEEN AFFECTED BY THE SAME STICKING CHARM YOU ARE FREE FROM NOW, AND THEY WON'T BE FREE UNTIL THE VEELA CHARM IS ACTIVATED. YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE A TEN SECOND HEAD START WHICH STARTS… NOW! 10!"_

Harry looked at Hermione with a very serious face and told her: "Please, Hermione, take the Map from my trunk and find Ginny!"

_"9!"_

"OK, Harry," Hermione said.

_"8!"_

"What are you going to do, mate?" Ron asked, half-worried, half-laughing.

_"7!"_

"What do you think I am going to do?" Harry replied, scared.

_"6!"_

"I am going to run for the next twelve hours to avoid getting mobbed by more than two hundred witches!"

_"5!"_

"Will you do that, Hermione?"

_"4!"_

"Yes, Harry."

"Thanks, bye!" Harry said, standing up.

_"3!"_

Harry ran towards the door, and reached it as the Howler counted: _"2!"_

He was outside the grounds. _"1!"_

_"GO!"_

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Ginny woke up slowly, not daring to open her eyes because she had just had the sweetest dream about Harry lifting her in his strong arms after their wedding, taking her to their bedroom and making love to her in a very passionate way. When she moved her hand over her bed, she realised she wasn't sleeping in a bed, because the texture was somewhat… grassy.

She opened her eyes and stood up, and she saw she was in the countryside. There were a few hills around her, flowers and grass everywhere and some trees a few meters from where she had been sleeping.

"Where am I?" Ginny asked herself. As in cue, a piece of parchment floated from over her head, slowly falling to the floor. Ginny caught it in the air and saw it was a letter from his favourite brother, Bill.

_Dear little Ginny,_

_Hi! As you may have seen as soon as you woke up, you aren't now in your bedroom in the Gryffindor tower. This is due to the fact that I managed to take you to where you are while you were sleeping._

_Currently, you are in Hogwarts, exactly in the Room of Requirement, which is the one Fred and George told me you were doing the DA sessions. You will be able to ask for anything you want or need, save for a way to get out of the room._

_You are in this predicament because we - that is, Charlie, Fred, George and I - decided that the best - and funniest! - way to welcome your loving boyfriend Harry is to put him under a Weasley Family Prank._

_While you are reading these lines, every teenage girl in this school will be running behind Mr. Potter to catch a taste of those lips you have tasted so many times, because he has been charmed to have the same influence on girls that a vela man has on every female human._

Ginny was furious right now. How did her brothers dare to do that to _her_ Harry! And now all those girls would be touching him, something he only let her do!

_Unfortunately, your presence near Harry would be really bad for the prank, so you had to be apart from him. So, I expect you have enough imagination to find something to do for the next 12 hours, because the door won't open until eight thirty in the afternoon._

_Have fun!_

_Bill_

Ginny fumed at her brothers' stupidity. It was clear that they had not learnt their lesson from when she used the Bat-Bogey Hex on them last time for teasing her about her infatuation with Harry, five years ago. Well, it was obvious she would have to teach them again not to mess with her!

But first thing was to find Harry soon. And for that, she needed to get out of the room.

_Think, Ginny, think…_

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Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress, Transfiguration Professor and Head of Gryffindor House of Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft had never been so surprised. First, it had been one of her favourite students, Harry Potter, who had been strangely without his girlfriend, Ginny Weasley, hitting his head against the table, apparently for something in the letter he had been reading. Then, a Howler had arrived and had announced that Harry was under a charm that would make all the female students run behind him to kiss him and that it would last half-a-day. Harry had then run away - with nearly all his clothes transparent - and finally the girls had stood up and ran behind him, creating a little earthquake and leaving the Hall in a matter of seconds.

_Well, it seems that a few girls have had enough self-restraint to not to run for Harry_, Minerva told herself. She could see Hermione Granger sitting next to Ronald Weasley, talking for a few moments before running towards the stairs, probably to try to find the latter's sister. Luna Lovegood had also remained behind, but was now leaving with Neville Longbottom, as well as all the first years.

When she turned to look at her staff companions, she could see that Pomona and Flitwick were laughing uproariously, Hagrid was chuckling, Severus' sneer was being ruined by the corners of his mouth twitching up, and Albus' twinkle in his eyes was back with a vengeance. His expression told Minerva that…

"Albus, _do you know something about this idiotic, stupid shenanigan?_" Minerva asked, her shrill voice rising over the laughs of the other members of the staff.

"Alas, Minerva, I am guilty as charged. Mr. William Weasley approached me in the last Order meeting and told me the idea he and his brothers had. He assured me that they didn't want to harm or scare Harry, only to welcome him into the family. I am also told that Mr. Frederick and George Weasley started a pooling on how many girls would be able to kiss Mr. Potter in these twelve hours."

"Albus! You permitted those boys to do something like that?" Minerva was now scandalized. "And how did they manage so that Molly didn't hear about it?"

"At first, she was acting like you are, too, but somehow her children managed to string a cord about her own past. You may remember how her and her brothers once put this table upside down in the middle of dinner, or not?"

"Yes, but that's not the point!" Minerva said.

"Albus," Pomona said. "Do the Weasley twins have a way to know who has kissed Potter?"

"From what they told me, Harry has a charm on his lips that reads the magical signature of anyone who kisses Harry, and the main bets they are pooling are how many people from each house does the deed," Dumbledore said, amused.

Pomona didn't doubt about it and said, "I put 10 Galleons on three Hufflepuffs."

" Pomona! You shouldn't bet on the life of one of your own students!" Minerva said.

"5 on one Slytherin," Severus said.

"Severus!"

"Minnie, why don't you let your hair out? Anyway, I think 7 Galleons on two Ravenclaws should do the trick," Flitwick said, almost hopping.

Minerva thought it carefully and then said: "Albus: 20 Galleons say that Ginny Weasley is the only one who kisses Mr. Potter."

"Are you sure, Minerva?" Albus said, raising his eyebrow. "I'm sure that they have made sure that she won't be around today."

Minerva puffed then. "Knowing Miss Weasley as well as I do, I doubt anything her brothers have set will stop her."

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As soon as Harry - with all the girls behind him - left the Great Hall, Ron turned to his left and saw that Hermione had stayed with him.

"How come you didn't go behind Harry as the others did?" he asked, surprised.

"I felt something strange pulling me to do it," she recognised, "but I managed to fight it with ease."

"O-K," Ron replied, with amazement. "Should we go and find the map?"

"Yeah!"

When Ron rose up, he didn't see the lustful look and the predatory smile that suddenly assaulted Hermione's face when looking at him. She followed Ron, but now she had a very different goal on her mind…

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There was something else Bill had not commented about the Veela man effect: in reality, what they did was to activate certain hormones into the women to increase their lust and state of arousal, which the women confused as being deeply, hopelessly and crazily in love with the Veela. If a woman was truly in love with another person, said woman would be able to resist the pull of the Veela charm, but that didn't stop the hormone activation; instead, she would turn to the man she loved and would require of him to satiate her…

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A few meters away from the main stairs in the fourth floor, inside a broom closet, a boy and a girl were very busy with some serious snogging and some touching over the waist. The blonde girl was known for being a rather crazy person who believed in all sorts of strange creatures; and the brown-haired boy was believed in the past to be the nearest thing to a squib Hogwarts had ever received, but they did not care about that.

They only cared about whether the broom should be placed on one corner or just blasted to make more space for them.

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_I expect this works_, Ginny thought, contemplating the really hard work she had done.

After ten minutes of doing nothing but thinking, she had remembered something she had learnt at her Muggle Studies class: '… in the end of 19th century, a Muggle called Alfred Nobel invented something called dynamite. It is similar to the powder most fireworks have, but this was used to open mines because it was really potent.'

She had asked Hermione about it, and she told her about Muggle explosives so that she had better marks on the assignment about how explosives worked.

Her brother Bill was too much intelligent for his own good. While he had stopped the Room from freeing his sister, it didn't stop her from finding the door. And right now, Ginny had rigged the door with enough trinitrotoluene or TNT to blow it of its hinges.

Ginny lit the fuse with her wand and, after leaving a safe space between the door and her - 200 metres far, just to be sure - she asked the Room to provide her with a protection wall.

_In 5, 4, 3, 2, 1_...

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"I know it must be here…" Ron mused, having just arrived to their room. Harry had keyed his friends to the compartment of the trunk where he held the things like the Marauders' Map and the Invisibility Cloak in case an emergency arose and Harry couldn't collect those objects.

_KABOOOM!_

The explosion made the whole castle shudder from its foundations to the top of the Astronomy Tower. There was nobody that didn't hear it, but most people were busy with other matters.

"What the bloody hell was that?" Ron asked in the exact moment Hermione entered the room.

"Ronald Weasley," Hermione said with a musical eerie voice.

Only then did Ron notice that something was off with his girlfriend: instead of correcting his choice of language, as she usually did, she had only pronounced his name with a really strange tone. Then he turned around and saw that her eyes were shining and figuratively burning like mad, something he had never seen in all the time he had met her; and that smile she was wearing right now reminded him of the one lots of the girls at school when they looked at Harry, only that this one was more pronounced and made him feel like a piece of meat.

"'Mione?" Ron asked, cautiously, approaching her with slowness.

"Ronald Weasley," she repeated, in the same tone as before, "do you know how many times I've dreamt of picking you in this room, completely alone? How many times I've wanted to rip those clothes from your body just to see what's under them? How many times I've had to control myself so that I don't snog your brains out in the middle of the Great Hall, just because you are so damn sexy the whole day? Tell me, Ronald Weasley, do you know that?"

"O-O-K, 'Mione, stop with that, now, you-you are scaring me," he replied, backing away.

Hermione giggled in a very un-Hermione-ish way. "Are you, Ronald Weasley, great captain and Keeper of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, best Chess master Hogwarts has ever seen in years, best friend and main Strategist for the mighty Harry Potter, afraid of a little know-it-all Muggleborn witch like me?" she replied, making Ron go towards his bed.

"Eh-eh-eh-eh," Ron tried to articulate, but was way too scared to say something. He touched the edge of his bed and found he could not back away anymore.

"Well, you should," Hermione said, the fire in her eyes intensifying. Then she pushed him over his bed, jumped on him and, with a swish of her wand, the curtains were tightly closed.

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_KABOOM!_

Harry nearly jumped from his position. _What the bloody hell was that?_ he mused.

Currently, the Boy-Who-Lived was sitting on the Astronomy Tower, far away from non-welcomed people. After he had arrived to the grounds, he had transformed into a phoenix and then had transported himself to the tower, in which he was sitting and waiting for any of his friends to appear.

The explosion surprised him a lot: not even Fred and George's fireworks were able to make so much noise! It had to be Death Eaters or Ginny, and since he couldn't see any masked man from his position, he surmised it had to be his girlfriend, but only Merlin knew where she got whatever she had use to provoke that explosion.

His train of thoughts was stopped when he saw that some girls had located him and were right now heading towards him mounting broom. One of them had a long curtain of black hair: Cho.

"Damn," Harry said. Not even the school's highest tower was safe from the Veela-effect-affected stalkers. "Where do I go now?" he asked himself, going towards the door and running downstairs while thinking of a new hiding place.

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Albus Dumbledore ran towards the seventh floor with a look of worry on his face followed by half the staff. The explosion had been originated in front of the tapestry that showed Barnabas the Barmy trying to teach ballet to some trolls. Dumbledore remembered that two years ago he had been in a rather bad situation with his bladder when he found that room with all the wonderful chamber pots, and he knew, thanks to Harry, that that room, which was called the Room of Requirement, showed what you needed the most in the moment you passed near it.

When he turned the corner that lead to said room, he saw it was a really big mess. There were bricks as far as ten metres from the original position of the door, dust was everywhere in the corridor and had covered completely the tapestry. In the middle of the mess, a piece of parchment was lying. Dumbledore took it.

_Sorry for the mess, but I needed to get out of this room._

_Ginny Weasley_

Dumbledore chuckled, and turned around to look at his Deputy with a twinkle on his eye. "Minerva, I think you are going to win the betting pool."

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_Well, that's phase one I've overcame_, Ginny told herself while climbing the stairs that led to the sixth years' bedroom. She planned to take the Marauder's Map and find Harry with its help.

When she arrived to the room, she was greeted by the most horrifying sound she could have ever imagined: her best friend and her brother making out. Thank god the curtains were closed, or she might have had mental scars for her whole life.

Only for that, she would have to do everything as fast as she was able to do while trying to ignore the noises Hermione and Ron were doing in the bed right next to her.

In the end she found the Map and ran away from the room before she would be in dire need of a psychologist.

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Harry ran to the only place where he could be one hundred percent isolated, the one place in which he could be completely isolated. Only one person could reach the place, and he wasn't even sure if she would be able to enter the same place as he could.

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Ginny looked carefully at the Map, and saw that Harry was currently running towards Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. She knew where he was heading, and she also saw and a lot of girls were following him. Breathing deeply, she told herself that she had to face her fears, so she went there through a secret passage she had seen in the Map that connected the seventh and the second floor.

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'_Open!_' Harry said in Parseltongue. He had practised the snakes' language a lot this summer, and now he could talk in it like if he was talking in English.

The passage that led to the Chamber of Secrets was closed with an order of '_Close and open only to the red-head talker!_'

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Ginny arrived to the bathroom with half a minute of advantage over the other girls. She got into and closed the door with the _Colloportus_ charm to give herself a few extra seconds. She then went to the sink and said '_Open!_' like Harry had done.

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The troupe of girls that were following Harry suddenly stopped when they saw that their beloved man had disappeared into a bathroom that had no way out.

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"Hi, Ginny," Harry said when Ginny entered the Chamber of Secrets.

"Hi," Ginny said, her voice trembling slightly.

"I knew that you would be the only one who would be able to reach me here. Where did Bill keep you?"

"In the Room of Requirement, or more likely what is left of it," Ginny said, slightly exasperated at her brother but trying to calm herself.

Harry hugged his girlfriend and asked her what she meant when saying what was left of the Room of Requirement.

"Well, Bill used some Egyptian charms of those he has seen while working with Gringotts at those pyramids. Unfortunately, he didn't think of protecting the door from Muggle explosives, and of course he forgot one could get everything into the room."

"Wait! That was the explosion I heard before? How much explosive did you put?" Harry said, looking at her.

Ginny blushed slightly. " 100 pounds of TNT."

"Ginny!" Harry said, surprised. "You could have been harmed badly!"

"I know; that's why I asked the Room to give me a protective wall so that I wasn't hit by the rubble. Of course, once the door exploded, the wall only stood up for a few seconds, but it was enough to protect me."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "At least you are uninjured. What would you like to do? I have to note that we won't be able to get out without me being trampled."

Ginny's eyes flared. "Wait 'till I get my brothers!" Then she started to giggle without control.

"What's the matter, Gin?" Harry asked.

"Well, I may have caught a certain brother of mine and a certain best friend of ours involved in a rather… intense fight. And said fight may be being held in a certain someone's bed, and from what I could gather, it was a fight without any words, due to the fact that their mouths were busier with other… business."

"No way! Please don't tell me they were making out in my bed!" Harry said, scared.

"No, silly, they were on Ron's, and thank Merlin that they had the curtains closed."

"Phew! I would have had nightmares if they had done that in my bed."

Ginny laughed.

"What do you think we should do now? We won't be able to get out of this place for…" Harry consulted his watch, "the next eleven hours."

"You could get out, you know? With your Phoenix form, you could get out of here."

"Maybe, but somehow all the girls know where I am the whole time, so if I got out they would know it."

"Call Dobby then. He'll be glad to help you!"

"Yeah, good idea. What do you want to do while we are here?"

Ginny hesitated at this point. "Could you show me around? I'd like to see the place without Tom."

Harry smiled at his girlfriend. "Sure! Now that I think of it, I'm going to reduce the Basilisk to potion ingredients. I've read that they are very useful. Do you want to join me?"

Ginny gently negated with her head and took Harry's hand. Harry guided her towards the main door that led to the Chamber of Secrets and opened it.

"Blaarrgh!" Harry said when the stench reached his nostrils. Then he conjured two Bubblehead Charms around his head and Ginny's to filter the horrendous odour that was filling the Chamber.

"I'll have to use some charms to clean the air around here," Harry said.

"May I help you?" Ginny asked.

"Yeah, could you Transfigure some rocks into boxes?" he asked. Ginny obliged and then Harry summoned his Air Elemental powers into the Chamber. He compressed all the gases coming from the rotting body of the snake the best he could, separating it from the breathable air, and then put it into one of the boxes, which he managed to completely isolate so that the stale air didn't get out.

"Now I should cast a Stasis Charm on the Basilisk, to stop it from rotting," Harry said, waving his wand in a strange pattern and whispering something under his breath.

"You know how to use a Stasis Charm?" Ginny said, surprised.

"Yeah. I learnt it in one of my books this summer," Harry said. "I have not tried yet to do it wandlessly, but I plan to learn that soon. Well, what do you want to do first? Have a look around or wait till I cut the Basilisk into pieces?"

"Cut the Basilisk. I'll look around here, I'd rather not see the Basilisk being cut," Ginny said, feeling nauseated.

"OK. See you later, Gin." Harry rolled up his sleeves and, with his wand, traced a very complicated pattern in the air and then directed it towards the Basilisk. The spell skinned the giant snake and put it in one of the boxes. Then the flesh was powdered and put into other box with a new move of the wand, followed by the organs. Soon, the only thing that rested of the basilisk was the skeleton, complete with fangs and all, minus the one Harry had used to stab the diary, which was on the floor.

Harry cut then all the fangs from the jaws of the beast, which he then placed into a box, and then shrunk the bones.

"Gin! I'm finished here!" Harry called his girlfriend, and had a look at his watch: he had been working for more than an hour.

Ginny appeared in the main chamber with a small smile. "It was time! I've had to go 'round this place more than two times, and I think I have seen everything."

"Are you sure?" Harry asked. "Have you tried to find any secret passage? They may only open to a Parseltongue."

"Nope," Ginny recognised. "Do you remember the place from where the Basilisk came out? Maybe there is something interesting that way."

"Yeah," Harry said, going towards the statue of the Founder. Harry then tried to remember what Tom Riddle had said three years ago to open the mouth of Salazar Slytherin, letting the Basilisk run free: '_Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four_,' he hissed, prompting the mouth to open.

"I'll have to freeze the water if we want to enter there. Ladies first," Harry told Ginny.

"Thank you, kind sir," Ginny replied with a smile, and stepped carefully on the ice Harry had Conjured by freezing the water. Walking slowly, so as not to slip and fall, she reached the statue's mouth and entered through it. Harry followed her and both of them could stay on their feet, since the hole was really big.

"What do you think we will find here, Harry?" Ginny asked to her boyfriend.

"No idea, Gin. Maybe the Basilisk nest or some personal object Slytherin may have left here…"

After a few minutes of walking, they found two different ways: one was the same size of the rest of the tunnel, but the other one was smaller, approximately seven feet tall, the rough size for them.

"Let's go through that one," Harry said, pointing to the latter tunnel. "Since the snake couldn't go that way, I'm sure we will be able to find something interesting."

Ginny nodded, and made her way towards it, following Harry as he carefully set detection charms in the possibility that there were some wards on it.

After a few minutes, they reached a black door with some strange writing on it. Harry read it carefully and smiled widely.

"What's the matter, Harry?" Ginny asked.

"I do believe we have just found the secret quarters of one wizard called Salazar Slytherin," he said, chuckling.

"No way!" Ginny shouted.

"Yeah! And if you give me a minute I may be able to open this without making it explode in little tiny bits of wood," Harry joked. Ginny looked at him as if he was crazy. "Just joking," he said. Harry just waved his hand and whispered "_Open_."

Inside they found a big, darkened room. The torches that were hanging around the walls lit when Harry set a foot in the place, and the vision rendered them speechless.

The walls on their left and in the front were covered with shelves, which were filled with very old-looking books, so old that they had been hand-written, but apparently they had been preserved by a Stasis Charm like the one Harry had used on the Basilisk a few hours before.

The right wall had also a shelf, but this one had various weapons, amulets and talismans that, almost in their entirety, had snakes engraved in them or looked like real snakes from their point of view.

The wall next to the door was covered with portraits of very old people sleeping in them. Harry even could hear two or three of them snoring.

Finally, there was a big ebony table in the middle of the room, very elegant looking, complete with a cushioned ebony chair, two candelabras with some ready-to-burn candles and a set of perfectly sharpened black and white quills.

"Oh," Harry said.

"My," Ginny said.

"GOD!" both teens shouted at the same time.

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Well, I think that by now, the true identity of Madam Musician is a bit clearer... at least, I hope so.

I'm going to make an explanation about Harry's and Ginny's skills of Parseltongue (because you may be asking why Harry didn't lend his Parselmagic books to her): Harry's knowledge of Parseltongue comes from two fountains: Voldemort's attack on him when he was fifteen months old, and his inheritance from Salazar Slytherin. Harry had the innate ability of hearing what snakes say, but it was Voldemort's attack the thing that transmitted Harry all his knowledge of the Parseltongue (imagine it as if Harry was a baby and, instead of learning how to talk in English like normal babies do, he somehow was infused with all the knowledge of English); meanwhile, Ginny's ability comes from the possession she suffered in her first year. Now, the catch for her is that she is not able to read Parseltongue (she would need to learn how to read and write said language), because the diary's Tom Riddle only gave her the knowledge of how to say a few things in Parseltongue, like "_Open_" and "_Attack_" (maybe leaving accidentally the rest of the vocabulary) and she isn't going to be able to use Parselmagic since she does not have the ability of controlling magic through this way.

Also, those who have read the excellent story "Harry Potter and the Cracked Reservoir" by Musings of Apathy may have recognised the Weasley Family Prank as Bill's prank in said story. If the author is reading this story, please do not say that this work is plagiarism, because in first place there is only plagiarism if the person who copies the work wins money over it (which I am not doing, obviously); second place, it has many different details if compared with the original work; and last place, I am already saying that the original idea is not mine, so there are no grounds for any accusation.


	17. Sometimes New Lessons Are The Best Ones

Chapter 17

Sometimes New Lessons Are The Best Ones

"Tell me once more why I am repairing this wall," Ron said, using _Wingardium Leviosa _to hover a stone block and to put it back on the wall that Ginny had destroyed the day before.

"Because when I asked you if you wanted to help Harry and Ginny to repair the Room of Requirement and I said that I was going to study the charms the Founders used on it, you said yes," Hermione reminded him for the tenth time, while she lifted other block and filled a space next to Ron's block.

Harry rolled his eyes. Ron had been whining about it for more than one hour, but he – Ron – shouldn't really say a thing since he had eagerly accepted Hermione's offer – which Harry suspected had been accompanied with other offer that only she would have pulled.

The first thing they had done was mark the place in which the door was and then they had repaired all the stone blocks that had been – at least – partially unscathed. Harry had to conjure a few extra blocks because some of the old ones had been powdered, literally.

"Just be glad we are only repairing the wall," Neville said. After he and Luna had gotten out of the closet with their hair and clothes in complete disarray, they had managed to avoid all the Professors while they went to the kitchens – since they had missed lunch and dinner, and their 'activities' had left them really tired – and then he had escorted her to her Common Room before coming back to his. When he had heard what had happened to Ginny and Harry, he had been laughing a lot, but had promised his help in the rebuilding of the Room. "At least we have a stupidly powerful wizard right here who is going to be the one to repair the charms, which if I am not mistaken, really suck up a lot of magic," he informed.

"Gee, thanks, Nev," Harry snorted.

"Don't worry a lot about it, Harry," Ginny replied, smiling. "You will have us the whole time, and we will do anything you need us to do."

Harry smiled back, and then looked at the wall, which was now nearly complete. "Does anybody know what Draco is doing?"

"He said something about Susan Bones asking him for help with Potions," Luna said, flicking her wand and levitating another block.

Ron snorted and started to sing: "Draco and Susan…"

Harry continued, "Sitting in a tree…"

The two friends sang at the same "K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

"First comes love…" Neville offered, chuckling.

"Then comes marriage…" Ginny added with a smile.

"Then comes Draco with a baby carriage!" With that, the four fell to the floor and started to roll and laugh as hard as they could.

"Very mature," Hermione said, rolling her eyes but smiling in spite of her. "I think that they could be a good couple. Draco certainly needs someone to help him to recover from his life."

"Oy, 'Mione, you don't have to be like that," Ron replied, smiling and standing up. "I also think that they look nice together. I've noticed he really sweetens whenever she is near."

Everybody else looked at Ron surprised.

"What? Do I have something on my face?" he asked, confused.

"No, it's what you just said is the most insightful thing you have ever said in your life," Hermione said with an impish smile. That was what they needed to fall laughing again.

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"Hey, guys, look at this," Harry said. Ron and Hermione ran to Harry's side.

It was now the Monday after the Male Veela Prank – which was how everyone had called the prank the Weasley brothers had pulled on Harry – and Harry and his friends were relaxing in the common room after having dinner. Harry was reading the book about the construction of Hogwarts, Ginny was engrossed with one of Harry's books about Defence, and Ron had managed to talk Hermione into playing chess. Neville was out, probably having been snagged by Luna to have some fun 'exploring' the diverse broom cupboards in the whole school. Harry didn't wish to find any details about what they were truly doing.

"Look, this page talks about the room the Founders used to meet each other during school year. Apparently, each of the Founders was the first Head of each House, which is why the houses are named after them. Well, Ravenclaw had this idea of building a room that was connected to all the common rooms, which have not been moved ever."

"Wicked!" Ron said.

"And where does the book says the entrance to this room is?" Ginny asked.

"Doesn't say a thing; only that they hid it and the room would only be opened for the Founders, their descendants or the Headmasters but if it is in the common rooms… I think…" Harry stood up and went towards the fireplace and started to search carefully. In the end, he found a little Griffin engraved on its left side. Harry touched it and a runic inscription appeared where the Griffin stood.

"Pst, Hermione!" Harry said. "Could you please try to translate this? You know I have no idea about Runes."

"OK! Just give me a few minutes, this set of Runes is very complicated," she said. She took a parchment, in which she copied the whole set, and then spent twenty minutes trying to make a translation, needing a dictionary for a few runes she had not been taught yet.

"Done!" she said. "These runes were really old, and I had to make some approximations for some words, but I think I've done it as precise as possible."

Harry thanked his friend and leaned to read the document from behind Hermione's shoulder.

_Congratulations, student, _

_For your discovery. _

_This place marks the lead _

_To the Lair of the Founders. _

_In order to see it _

_And find the big knowledge _

_Your ancestors stored _

_Follow the clues and _

_Remember what you must never do _

_In this great school._

"Great, an enigma! And this is worse than the one in the Triwizard Tournament!" Ron exclaimed.

"Well, it seems pretty clear to me," Ginny said. "We have to find a password and we will find the entrance to the Lair, and this password is related to something you must never do in Hogwarts."

"There are many things you must never do at Hogwarts, though," Hermione said.

"Yeah, like breaking the rules," Ron said with a laugh.

"What's the matter?"

Neville had just arrived from his rendezvous with Luna.

"Read this and judge yourself," Hermione told him giving him the parchment, which Neville read fast.

"Who found this and where? Maybe this 'clue' they talk about is the place where you found it."

"Look here, Nev," Harry said, pointing to the fireplace and touching the runes, which made the Griffin appear again.

"Hey, this Griffin looks a lot like the one in the school's coat of arms, no?" Neville suggested.

"Yeah, that could be the clue," Harry said.

"The only things that appear in the coat of arms are the mascots, the name of the school and the motto, '_Draco dormiens nunquam titillandum_'," Hermione said

"'_Draco dormiens nunquam titillandum_'?" Harry asked, confused, leaning on the fireplace.

Hermione would have replied, but she was cut off when the fireplace bonfire suddenly turned off, and then moved slowly to a side, revealing a big corridor behind it.

"Oh, my, we have just found the passage to the Lair," Ron said. "But what does the school's motto have to do with that about something you must never do?"

"'_Draco dormiens nunquam titillandum_'means '_Never tickle a sleeping dragon_' in Latin," Hermione replied. "That must have been what whoever wrote that on the fireplace talked about."

"I think we should explore the Lair before it gets too late," Harry proposed. "That way, we can tell Draco and we can meet this weekend."

"True, mate," Ron said.

"How is it possible that no one noticed this?" Ginny asked, looking at the numerous people that were still talking and had not looked once at them.

"Magic," Harry said cheekily. Everybody chuckled. "Shall we go, then?"

"Right behind you, oh kind sir," Ron said with a mock-bow. Harry smacked him on the head and carefully entered the corridor, using a wandless _Lumos_ to light the way, while his friends did the same with their wands.

"Found anything interesting, Harry?" Ginny said.

"There is one door here," Harry told his friends. "It has Hogwarts' crest on it. Shall we go in?"

"We shall," everybody else said at the same time.

Harry pushed the door and entered the room with his friends behind him. What they saw left them astonished.

The room they were in right now was very big, with an octagonal shape which was repeated in the table, which had eight chairs. The table in itself was made of a pure white marble that shone at the light of the torches that lit that moment, and had a compass rose drawn on its centre. There were eight doors, including the one they had just entered through: the one on the south had a lion, the one on the west had a badger, the one on the north had a snake, and the one on the east had a raven.

The other four doors had other things drawn: the south-west door had an angel, the north-west door had a chalice, the north-east door had a silvery disc and the south-east door had a fox.

The walls were half covered with book-filled shelves, all of them looked very old, but were in very good shape, perhaps because it had been a long time since someone had stepped into the room and had taken one of those books. The rest of the walls had some tapestries with landscapes, which had been beautifully done.

Ron whistled.

"It's incredible, all of this. We will be able to meet with the others with no one being none the wiser."

"Yeah, and there are so many books…" Hermione's look had turned dreamy at the sight of new books she could read.

"I believe that those doors," Harry said, pointing to the main cardinal point doors, "go to the common rooms, but where do you believe the other doors lead?"

"Let's explore a bit," Ginny said, walking to the nearest door to her – the one with the angel – and opening it. She gasped.

It was a big bedroom that had a king-sized bed with golden hangings and blood red sheets, with portraits and paintings hanging from the walls of the room, and two elegant ebony bedside tables.

There was one door on the side, which led to a wonderful bathroom, whose bath, washbasin and floor were made entirely of marble, and those also had taps like the Prefects bathroom in the fifth floor.

"Any guess on who's this is?" Hermione asked.

"Gryffindor, of course," Harry replied, pointing at the bed. "I'd bet that the other rooms are also bedrooms with the colours of each of the houses."

And it was like that.

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"So," Draco said the next day, "you say there is a way to go from Slytherin's common room from Gryffindor's?"

"Yes. It is a room that was where the Founders and their spouses discussed every night what they were doing. It also houses their old bedrooms, and it leads to the four common rooms. I suspect that was done so that they could reach each other and the students easily," Harry said.

"Do you think we could meet there safely?" Draco asked.

"Yes. Oh, and Draco, I need your help for something that requires from your knowledge of the pureblood world."

"What is it?" he asked.

"There is this… important thing that I need to do, and I need help from someone special that I don't know who she is," Harry said.

"We are talking about a girl?"

"Yes. I know two things about her: she is at Hogwarts right now, and she is a pureblood descendant from some noble family from the Middle Ages or the Renaissance. Feel up to take the mission?"

"Sorry, Harry, but I don't have the slightest idea about that," Draco replied. "But maybe my mother can help us. She studied the pureblood families when she was here at Hogwarts, hoping to find the 'better half of herself' that could satisfy my grandparents. I'm sure she would remember either what she found or what book could help us to find that."

"That would be nice," Harry smiled. "Now let's get to Potions before someone thinks we are trying to kill each other."

Draco snorted and smirked, following his friend to the dungeons.

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"Welcome back to the Defence Association!" Harry said to the Beginners' class

The day after the discovery of the Founders Lair, it was once more time to come back to routine, and Harry's included restarting the DA, which had been cancelled the Sunday before due to the destruction of the Room of Requirement, but now that it had been repaired, they would be able to hold meetings again.

"First thing in today's order," he said in a loud voice, enough to make himself heard to the hundreds of students that had accepted his leadership and guidance; "is that I am proud of all of you. You have learnt how to guard yourselves from low and medium-level spells and curses, how to distract your opponent and how to use a few attack spells that will help you in a battle.

"But today, I have decided that you will learn a new thing you can do. You'll learn to dodge."

Confusion stroke among the students. "Don't we already know how to protect ourselves?" someone asked.

"You may have learnt to use magical shields," Harry admitted, "but there are things that can't be stopped, like the Unforgivables. Also, casting shields is truly draining, and you may want to store that energy for attacking and incapacitating your opponents. So, you'll learn to dodge. Has anybody here ever played dodge ball?"

A quarter of the group raised their hands, all of them Muggle-borns or half-bloods. Seeing the 'success', Harry explained them the objective of dodge ball, which was to dodge the ball to avoid being hit and to throw the ball to hit the other teams.

"So, right now, you will be divided into teams of ten people each. Each two teams will fight each other, trying to beat the other team. This way, you will practice avoiding something that it is thrown at you and get some physical exercise. Understood?" Everybody nodded and then Harry made the teams randomly.

While everybody was moving, Harry realised that all the students were also having fun playing a game that not a lot of them had played. The ones who were having best success were the ones that played Quidditch regularly or played the game in their Muggle schools, while the others were knocked out soon.

After half an hour all the matches had finished, and everybody declared they had had a very good time playing. Harry congratulated the students, and then he asked the Room of Requirement to make some showers appear for everybody, which it did. The DA hit the showers, and when they came out, Harry showed them how to use a Cutting Curse ('_Diffindo'_) in a proficient way.

"The thing I have to stress the most," Harry said in a serious tone, "is that you are not to use this curse on anybody that isn't poised to be a threat. If you point to someone's head or chest, you could easily kill them, no matter if you were doing it as a joke or if you were angry with that person. If I ever catch someone using the Cutting Curse out of this place, or even here on a person, said someone will find himself expelled from Hogwarts and with his wand snapped, which I will look for personally. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Professor," everybody chorused.

"OK. Now, use the curse on the wooden blocks the room has provided for us. Try to make a gash as big as possible. All of you will be magically isolated so that no stray curses hit anybody else," Harry said, waving both hands to create the nearly one hundred and thirty individual wards that would protect the students, something that took him ten minutes and a lot of his magical reserves, which he thankfully would be able to recover when he arrived to his room, where he had stored a few potions that could help him, like some Pepper-up Potion, a Dreamless Sleep Potion and also some pain numbing potions if he ever had a vision about Voldemort.

In the end, all the students had no problem with learning the curse, knowing that if they ever were in front of a Death Eater, it could very well mean the difference between life or death, something that Harry had stressed well enough since their first day.

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The day after, Draco gave Harry a list of all the possible candidates to 'whatever you are looking for'.

"It was a bit difficult, but I think this covers all the girls who are descendants of nobles in the Renaissance."

The list was really short, since it only covered three girls: Orla Quirke, a third-year Ravenclaw; a second-year Gryffindor called Kate Garnett and Susan Bones.

"OK, Draco. I'll tell you later what is going on, I promise. Try to enter the Founders' Lair tonight at nine thirty and you'll know if I have found what I wanted."

"See you later," Draco said.

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"Susan?" Harry asked to the Hufflepuff girl in that afternoon's DA meeting. "I need you to stay behind before you go back to your common room."

"OK, Harry," she replied, unsure of why Harry would want to talk with her alone.

When everybody left save from Harry, his friends and Susan, the latter asked, "What's the matter, Harry?"

"I need you to cast this charm, _Revello Anima_."

"Why?"

"Just humour me, please. There are no moves needed for this charm."

Susan nodded, unsure of what was happening, but did what Harry had asked her. Within seconds, what Harry had been waiting for happened.

Harry remembered what Trelawney's last prophecy said, and he had made the connection between his friends and the animals mentioned in it, so maybe the last person in the prophecy would also have an Animagus form.

"Oh!" Susan exclaimed when a silver adult unicorn materialised in front of her.

"It's her, guys. We have found the last person," Harry whispered to his friends.

"What do we tell her, then?" Ginny asked.

"Tell her about the Lair, and we will tell her everything else tonight," Hermione suggested.

Harry nodded and went to Susan.

"Susan, listen to me carefully, because this is very important. Are you willing to keep a secret with you?"

"Just as long as it is not something bad, I'll do that."

"OK. Tonight, we are meeting at nine thirty in a secret place that can be accessed easily from all the common rooms, so Filch won't be able to catch us out of bounds. You have to go to the fireplace in your room, say the school's motto and go through the passage you will find. In the meeting, I will answer every question you have, but I can't now. Do you think you can do that?"

"Yes," Susan said, simply.

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At nine twenty, Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione and Neville entered the secret room so that they could prepare everything for their meeting with Draco and Susan. In the main room, they met Luna, and between the six of them they made some arrangements, which included putting over the table the transcriptions of all the prophecies Professor Trelawney had made, Harry's too-many-times-used genealogical tree and factfinder, Harry's Pensieve and the letter Godric Gryffindor himself had written – of course, only Harry would be able to read it, but it would be helpful.

What the others didn't know was that Harry was going to show his friends the weapons and armours he had found in the Founders' vault in Gringotts. He wished them to train with him, and be protected the best they could.

At nine thirty-five, knocks were heard from Slytherin's and Hufflepuff's doors.

"Come in," Harry said.

Draco and Susan entered the room, and their first reaction was to let their jaws down, due to the surprise the beautifulness of the room had given them. Then Draco noticed Susan had arrived.

"Susan! What are you doing here?"

"Same as you, Draco," Harry informed him. "I have called both of you to be here because there is something important I have to tell you. Please, sit down," he continued, pointing to the last two free seats.

Once they had sat down, Harry started to speak.

"Do you know why Voldemort has been trying to kill me for the last five years?"

After an awkward silence, Draco was the first to speak.

"Well, excuse me if what I am going to say discomforts any of you, but I just thought he just wished to finish the job he started when he killed your parents."

Harry gave a dry chuckle.

"I wish. No, Voldemort has been trying to kill me for the last five years because I was the prime objective of his visit to my parents' house."

"But, why? Why would V-Voldemort" – Susan, as well as the other members of the Defence Association, were getting better at saying Voldemort, but they still shivered a little whenever the name was said – "want to kill a defenceless one-year old boy?"

"Apart from being a sadistic bastard, you mean? It was like this. What do you think of Trelawney?"

"I didn't choose for Divination, fortunately. I just know from the others in my year that she is a big fraud," Draco said.

"I just think she is a bit obsessed with your death, Harry," Susan observed. "Even now you are not there she is still saying you will die, probably in a very painful way."

Harry rolled his eyes.

"You may be surprised when I tell you that she really has the powers of a true Seer."

"Are you talking seriously?" Draco asked.

Instead of replying, Harry pulled a memory out of his mind and put it into the Pensieve, where it played the prophecy that had sealed his destiny when Voldemort heard the first part of it.

"The funny thing about this prophecy is that it could have been Neville."

"Difficult to believe, but I do believe you," Susan said.

Draco only nodded.

Harry then explained to the two of them about Voldemort having only heard the first half of the Prophecy, Wormtail selling his parents, the fact that Sirius spent so much time in Azkaban for something he had not done, a slight summary of his life at the Dursleys, and the encounters he had had with Voldemort his first two years.

"The last day of exams, when we had the Divination test, Trelawney made a new prophecy, one about the Dark Lord raising again after his servant got free after twelve years of imprisonment. With Buckbeak's trial having being done that same afternoon, we didn't give thought to it, but after we got Sirius and Buckbeak free, I realised that it had been talking about Pettigrew, who had been disguising as Ron's rat since Voldemort disappeared the first time."

"That rat of yours was Pettigrew?" Susan asked to Ron.

"It was Percy's first. None of us found strange the fact that he lived so much until we found out about Pettigrew being an Animagus," Ginny said.

"Yeah, well, the problem was that in the end it was Pettigrew the one who helped Voldemort to come back, and he used bones from Voldemort's father, then he cut his own hand off and then he took some of my blood."

Harry related then the duel between himself and Voldemort, then the incident with the Dementors and a few things that had happened during the last year. Susan was privy of a part of them through her aunt, and Draco through his father, but none of them knew about the Department of Mysteries, the Hall of Prophecies of the fact that Sirius had fallen through the Veil just to come back through Stonehenge and then travel as Padfoot to Surrey in hopes of finding Harry, or that Dumbledore had known the Prophecy for so much time and he hadn't told Harry.

Then Harry displayed his genealogical tree.

"Any of you ever heard of the Magical Ancestry Ritual?"

"I have," Draco replied. "It is a custom in the Malfoy family to use that ritual to determine both the power of their children and if there is a possibility of them to inherit from other magical families. My tree had twenty-eight generations, which according to my father is a rather good one, and he said his had thirty-two."

"Well, if you wish to have a look at mine…" Harry said, turning the map so that Draco and Susan could read it.

"Oh… Merlin. You have SEVENTY GENERATIONS?!!!" Draco shouted.

"Could you say that louder? I think there is a deaf person in Australia that hasn't heard what you said," Ron said, snorting.

"Sorry, but it is still amazing the fact that Harry is so powerful that his tree shows seventy generations of people," Draco said, while Hermione explained to Susan – who had not understood well what was the matter with the number of generations – that with the ritual, the more generations it showed, the more powerful the wizard was.

"And just compare it with Dumbledore's, his has sixty-five," Ginny said, smugly.

That made Susan's and Draco's jaws to drop, sensation that was incremented ten-fold when Harry showed them his powers, first through the fact-finder, then in person: he made some wandless and wordless magic, he showed them the spells he had developed, he pulled his elementals out and finally did some Parselmagic that gave them the willies, since they only could hear some hissing.

Finally, Harry arrived to the crux of the matter, the reason because he had asked them to come here, the last prophecy.

"At the start of the year, Dumbledore asked me to go to his office to talk about why I had been appointed as a Professor and about the attack at Platform Nine and Three Quarters. I told him everything and then Professor Trelawney appeared into the office. She and Professor Dumbledore argued a bit and suddenly she got in trance and she made other prophecy. Listen," and Harry put the memory into the Pensieve. The image of the batty Divination Professor slowly substituted the silvery one.

"_They who gather together, _

_They who can beat the Dark Lord, _

_They who are eight friends, _

_Four boys and four girls: _

_The Leader is the Chosen One, the Heir, _

_The Bravery is his banner, _

_The Phoenix his herald. _

_The Healer is the Soul Mate, the Seventh, _

_The Medicine is her banner, _

_The Lioness her herald. _

_The Warrior is the Brother, the Strategist, _

_The Strength is his banner, _

_The Tiger his herald. _

_The Archer is the Sister, the Scholar, _

_The Accuracy is her banner, _

_The Vixen her Herald. _

_The Swordsman is the Other One, the Green Lord, _

_The Agility is his banner, _

_The Bear his herald. _

_The Seer is the Bonded, the Loner, _

_The Foresight is her banner, _

_The Owl her herald. _

_The Assassin is the Former Enemy, the Nobleman, _

_The Cunning is his banner, _

_The Dragon his herald. _

_The Musician is the New Friend, the Noblewoman, _

_The Companionship is her banner, _

_The Unicorn her herald. _

_Work together they must, _

_To make the Darkness recede, _

_Or it will win against Light _

_And make it disappear._"

"That's why I needed to see your Animagus form, Susan," Harry said when the memory ended.

"I am a unicorn?" Susan said, breathless.

"Yeah. The eight of us are mentioned in the prophecy, and the animals in there are our Animagus forms. Well, I do have more than one form, but that's not relevant to this. As you can imagine, I am the Phoenix, Ginny is the Lioness, Ron the Tiger, Hermione the Vixen, Neville the Bear, Luna the Owl and Draco the Dragon.

"And as you have heard, we need to work together so that we can beat Voldemort in the near future. All of you are going to be needed in the fight, and you will be in very important places."

"Harry, I do have a question. Why does it say that I am 'the Assassin'? And why is Susan 'the Musician'?" Draco asked.

"Oh, that. Well, this is something I haven't told anybody yet, only Sirius and Dumbledore know about this. I received in inheritance a vault that was the property of the Founders and their husbands and wives. There were a few things in that vault that are connected to the Prophecy and to each of you."

Harry pulled his trunk out of his pocket and then enlarged it, so that he could take the armours and weapons out of it.

"What are those, mate? It really looks medieval, like those armours in the corridors."

"These are the weapons the Founders wore when they had to fight in their army," Harry explained. "If you remember the Prophecy, when each of us is mentioned, it says that we have a place in the battleground. The eight armours are made of a metal called mythril, which is more resistant than Basilisk hide, and very light, too."

"And which weapon is going to each of us, Harry?" Neville asked.

"Ginny, you have the staff with the snake. Ron, you will use the axe. Hermione, you get the bow and quiver. Neville, I believe your weapons are those double swords in the third dummy to the left. Luna has the staff with the crystal orb on the top. Draco gets the daggers, and Susan the flute. Sorry, Susan."

"No problem, Harry. I always liked music."

"Should we put on the armours?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, that way we will know if it suits us," Harry said. The girls entered the bedrooms to get changed, and the boys did the same in the corridors. When everybody came back, they were truly magnificent with their armours and with their weapons either hanging from their backs or waists or using them as walking sticks.

"Wicked, Hermione, you really look good in that. With two pointy ears, you would look like an elf like in 'The Lord of the Rings'!" Ron said.

"You have read that book?" Hermione asked, surprised.

"Tolkien was a Muggle who knew about the Wizarding World thanks to his brother Arthur. His books are also published in the Magical World because he was shown that world and when he wrote about it he turned it into that trilogy. Of course, Ron didn't read it until you told him how fantastic those books were," Ginny commented with a smirk. Ron's ears reddened while Ginny said that.

"You read a book _willingly_?" Harry asked, surprised.

"Yeah," Ron said a bit morosely. "I just wanted to see what was so great about those books and when I started it I could not finish it."

"Oh, Ron!" Hermione said, throwing herself over her boyfriend and giving him a good kiss on the lips.

"Oy, get a room you two!" Draco said.

"We will do that sometime in the future," Ron said winking at Hermione.

Hermione huffed, but kept smiling.

"We should sit down to keep with the discussion, don't you think so?" Harry said.

Everybody nodded, and went towards their seats around the table. Harry was about to say something, but when Neville (the one who had been the furthest from the table) sat down, the table started to glow with a whitish light. The chairs soon were glowing with the same colour, and before anybody could do anything, eight bolts of light went to the eight friends and they slumped to the ground, unconscious.

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Let me explain why the drawings on the doors of the Founders' Lair: the doors in the north, south, east and west are self-explanatory, but the other four are related (more or less) to the names of the Founders' spouses: the angel is Gabrielle (Gabriel is one of the seven Archangels in Catholicism, with Michael, Raphael, Uriel, Selaphiel, Jegudiel and Barachiel), the chalice is Hale (in reality, is Helga, which comes from Helge, meaning 'holy, blessed'), the silvery disc is Selene (the disc is the Moon, and Selene was Roman's goddess of the Moon) and the fox is Renard (which means fox in French).

Sorry for the use of Tolkien's name and life in such a liberal way, but it was the best way I could think to show Ron as a – for the first time – avid reader of books. Anyway, Tolkien really had a brother, whose name was Hilary Arthur Reuel Tolkien.

Is it clear now? I really couldn't leave the group without one of those wonderfully loyal Hufflepuffs, and Susan was the one who had the best chances of going out with Draco. Just don't kill me, please! grin


	18. The Old Eight Meet The New Eight

Chapter 18

The Old Eight Meet The New Eight

Everything was black for Harry.

Pitch black.

Darker than the darkest night.

Blacker than petroleum.

Of course, he thought it was rather normal since he had not opened his eyes yet.

Then he opened his eyes.

He found himself in the floor of the Founders' Lair.

But it was different from the Founders' Lair he had been in a few minutes ago. That one was a bit darker, the books were slightly dusty and the tapestries looked old. This one was very well illuminated, all the books were perfectly clean and the tapestries seemed to be recently made.

"Ouugh, what was that?" Ron said, groaning.

"No idea, Ron," Hermione said, waking up. "But I would really like to know what the hell that was."

"Hermione, swearing?" Ginny said, giggling. "That's new for me."

"Where do you think we are, exactly?" Neville asked.

"Founders' Lair, of course," Draco replied.

"Yes, but it doesn't look like the one we were in before," Harry responded, standing up and helping the others do the same. "If you notice, this place looks more recently built than our Founders' Lair, and all those books and tapestries also look newer."

"Sure, you are right, but what could that mean?" Hermione asked.

"I remember those lights started when the eight of us sat down on the table," Neville said, "so it must have been that all these weapons and armours have some kind of charm that detected those and activated whatever hit us."

"Why didn't I think of that before?" an adult male voice was heard saying. The eight teenagers turned to that voice while pulling their wands out and pointing them to the source of the voice.

Said source came from a group of adults that had appeared from the nothingness next to them, near the chalice door.

"Godric, that was because when we made this plan, we thought of the most complicated thing that could be applied to this," a blonde haired witch said. "As smart as we are, we forgot that sometimes the most effective things are the easiest ones."

"True," the brown-haired man replied.

"Too late for doing any changes, though. We did it too much time ago, and not having access to the living world makes it really difficult for us," the black-haired man – the one who had talked first – said. Upon having a look at him, Harry noticed that the man's hair looked exactly like his before he used the 'special touch' to change it – disorganized, always sticking up and looking like if he had just hopped down from the broom.

"Excuse me, but who are the lot of you?" Ron asked.

"Oh! Sorry, I forgot my manners while we were talking about this," the man with Harry's hair said. "My name is Godric Gryffindor," he started, leaving the teenagers stunned, "this is my charming wife Gabrielle Gryffindor, she" – he pointed to the blonde woman, "is Rowena Ravenclaw, the red-haired man beside her is her husband Renard Ravenclaw, the black-haired woman is Selena Slytherin, Salazar Slytherin is the brown-haired man by her right, Hale Hufflepuff is the blond man and the woman he is hugging is Helga Hufflepuff."

"You are the Hogwarts' Founders? Are you kidding me?" Draco asked, surprised.

"No, I'm not 'kidding' you," the man who said he was Godric Gryffindor replied to Draco, obviously not having encountered that word ever. Then he looked at Harry and smiled. "And you must be a Potter, if I am not mistaken."

"No, you are not, sir. But how do you know that?" Harry said.

"Ah, well, there are two versions, short story and long story. Which one do you want to hear?"

"Short first, then long if it is possible," Harry pleaded.

"Well, short story is that Gabrielle and I decided to change our firstborn's surname so that nobody thought that we would spoil him while he was at school," Godric summarised.

"We will save the long story for later," Gabrielle, the red-headed witch that was currently hugging Godric, said.

"We do seem to have the same taste in women, Sir Godric," Harry said.

"Oh, please, drop the _Sir_, Harry," Godric chuckled. "I was never knighted by the King, and nobody in my family had that pleasure. Although there were rumours that he knew of the magical world, he never acted on those rumours. And as for our tastes, I have to say that was the Gryffindor's, and later the Potter's, curse. Or blessing, as I like to think of it," he added, smiling lovingly at his wife.

"The Potter's curse?" Hermione piped on, interested in the subject.

"Yes. A long time ago, my much times great-grandfather helped a very powerful wizard who, grateful for this, used a spell over him that would insure that there would always be a male Gryffindor who descended directly from him and that would stop our direct descendants from ever being evil.

"Unfortunately, it had a pair of drawbacks, which each of us has accepted, sometimes gladly, sometimes not: in the first place, each of us were always to do our best to defeat evil when they wished to unbalance the equilibrium; second place, the first child of one of the direct line would always be a boy, and said boy would always have this mop of black hair; and, finally, the only kind of witch that would be the perfect match for him would always have red hair."

Harry smiled. "Well, Ginny, do you think you are my perfect match?"

"Not only that, Harry, you are mine as well," Ginny replied, kissing him.

"Hm, hm," someone coughed behind them.

Ginny and Harry separated reluctantly.

"Well, I think it is time to start with the important thing," Salazar said with his deep voice.

"May I ask you a question?" Hermione said.

"Yes, dear?" Rowena said.

"Who was the one that put the password to the Lair? _Draco dormiens nunquam titillandum_?" she asked.

The adults looked at Godric, who blushed slightly while looking around innocently.

"As you may think, Godric was the one who did that," Hale said with a grin.

"Did you actually do that?" Luna asked Godric.

"Are you asking if he tickled a sleeping dragon? Of course he did! I've never laughed so hard than what I did that day!" Hale said, chuckling.

"Do NOT dare to tell this to my great-grandson, Hale!" Godric said, with a blush that would have made any Weasley incredibly proud.

"Oh, come on, why not? I bet they are wishing to hear it. After all, I doubt they have ever heard something as funny as that!" Renard said with a slight French accent and grinning too.

"It's evident you do not know my twin brothers, or Harry's dad and his friends," Ron said with another grin. "They were really big pranksters when they were at school."

"Yes?" Hale said with interest.

"Yes," Harry said. "My dad had a friend who was a werewolf…"

"Werewolves!" Rowena jumped. "At our school!"

"Remus Lupin is one of the best people I've ever met!" Harry replied with anger. "So please, if you are going to spout racist idiotic nonsensical words, kindly let us come back to where we were!"

"Calm down, Harry," Gabrielle said. "We don't know about your time, but in our time all werewolves were completely mad and lusted about the pleasure that the wolf brought to them. They tried to attack our school a few times, and nearly succeeded in biting a few children, but we always managed to stop them until we put a ward to stop them from entering."

"There are still werewolves that do that. One called Fenrir Greyback has been giving the Aurors more than a big headache for the last thirty years," Susan said. "But Remus Lupin isn't anything like that."

"No, he isn't. He was bitten when he was a child, but Dumbledore arranged it so that he could attend classes at Hogwarts," Harry said. "He planted a gigantic Whomping Willow in one end of a secret passage and built a house at the other end. Remus would always go to the house through the passage every full-moon night so that he couldn't try to bite anybody.

"Well, my father James and his friends Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew," Harry spat the name of the latter as if it was an expletive, "who were also friends with Remus, managed to discover his secret, but instead of leaving him they decided to make themselves Animagi."

"How old were they?" Rowena said.

"They started with the plan when they were thirteen, and they managed the transformation when they were fifteen. My dad was a stag, Sirius was a Grim-like dog, and Peter," he again spat, "was a rat. Between the four of them, they managed to make a map of Hogwarts that would always tell them in which place of the castle they were and it signalled where everybody in the school was."

"Impressive!" Godric said. "None of us managed to do the transformation until we were eighteen, but I suppose that we had to do it on our own, without any kind of tutor or guide."

"They also did it on their own, although they managed to use all the books about Animagus they could find in the school's library," Harry replied, smugly. Then Harry transformed himself into a phoenix and transformed back.

The Founders were gob-smacked.

"Impressive, Harry," Rowena said.

"My friends are also training for being Animagi," Harry said. "Draco and Susan haven't started yet with the transformations, but they know their forms."

"Which are your forms?" Rowena asked to the teens, who replied her. She felt impressed with the fact that Draco and Susan had magical forms, and that Harry had multiple forms.

"Now, what about your twin brothers, Miss Weasley?" Hale asked with interest.

Between Ginny and Ron, with some help from Hermione and Harry, told the story of their brothers, who had been prepared to be great pranksters since the day they were born (literally, because their birthday was April 1st, the holiday called April Fools' Day) and all the pranks they had been able to devise. The adults and the non-Weasley children had lots of fun when they were told about the time Fred and George managed to prank Bill with a bucket of ice cold water and a powerful sticking potion they had devised from one of their potion books, and the adults outright laughed when the story of the prank war they had unleashed on the Slytherins, Filch and Umbridge last year.

"… and our Charms Professor decided to ward a piece of the Portable Swamp they made in honour of their genius," Ron said, finishing the story of the twins, which had included them mounting their incredibly successful shop and all the things they had invented throughout the years.

"Oh, that was truly fantastic," Hale said with a smile.

"What about Godric's adventure with the dragon?" Harry asked with interest.

"NO! I forbid you to tell them!" Godric yelled at his friend.

"Make me!" Hale answered defiantly. Godric jumped over him and they started to fight.

"And you sure THESE are the Founders?" Neville asked Harry half-confused, half-amused.

"Right now, I'm hardly sure about me being the descendant of one of those two," Harry said, truthfully.

"Stop right now, Godric!" Gabrielle said, waving her hand towards the two fighting adults, who were stiffened like if they had been hit by a _Petrificus Totalus_ charm.

"You," Rowena said, pointing at Godric, "should accept that Harry has the right to hear the story, however embarrassing it is for you. And you," she told Hale, "should have learnt that goading Godric into a fight is never a good idea! Now, can I trust you to behave like the adults you are supposed to be, and not the kids you are looking like now?" she finished, releasing both of them.

"Yes, Mum," both of them replied with a cheeky smile.

Rowena rolled her eyes.

"Well, we – Godric, Renard, Salazar and I, that is – had been drinking wine," Hale said. "Lots of wine. And then we started to talk about who could do a series of outrageous things of every kind. Then, I think it was Renard here, he said something about dragons and Godric replied, 'I bet you that I can wake up that Hebridean Black up there and come back here without anything happening to me.' Mind you, we were very drunk, and we didn't think of how dangerous that really was.

"So then, we went to the hill the dragon was resting on, and all of us stopped at a hundred metres, just to be safe, but Godric kept going forward. When he reached the dragon, he started to go 'round it. And his bright idea was to tickle the dragon's snout."

The teenagers snickered while Godric looked murderously at his partner.

"You can imagine the result: the dragon wakes up, gets angry at Godric for interrupting its fabulous dream of eating lots of sheep, it tries to squash him, Godric runs away, the dragon spits a jet of fire, it hits Godric, and he starts screaming like a little girl while trying to douse the flames. Fortunately, our wives knew where we were, and between the four of them put the dragon to sleep, turned the flames down and then gave us the worst telling-off we have ever suffered. We even got expelled from our bedrooms for a month thanks to that stunt."

Harry and his friends outright laughed at the discomfort the tale was bringing Godric.

"Well, now onto the important thing, the reason why the eight of you are here," the latter said, changing matters fast. "Harry, since you are clearly my heir, you must have been the one to read my letter, no?"

"Yes, Godric."

"Well, unless you have told your friends about it, I'm going to tell you a summary of what happened when we heard that awful prophecy…"

Godric told the seven teenagers a somewhat-reduced version of the letter he had written for his future heir, telling him about who he was, everything about the weapons the teenagers were now wearing, the prophecy that had predicted the arrival of a Chosen One that would defeat the Darkness and the consequences of it.

"I was the last one of the eight of us to die," Godric said with a sad expression. "I arrived here, and I met all my friends again, and my wife. The surprise was to see Salazar here. He had been waiting for all of us, and the first thing he did when I met him was to apologize for our fight. We accepted it, and since then we have been waiting for you to arrive here."

"And what exactly are you going to do with us?" Draco asked.

"Young Draco, those daggers you are wearing were mine in the past," Salazar told him. "We plan to teach you how to use your weapons and the inherent magic that goes with them."

"Inherent magic?" Ron asked.

"Ginevra," Gabrielle said, "your staff, which was mine, was especially made for channelling Healing Magic. Every healing spell you cast with that staff will be strengthened and will heal many people easily, but remember that nothing can bring the dead back. The staff won't stop you from using offensive and defensive magic, but the primary conception of the staff is to heal people."

Ginny smiled while she looked at her staff. "This means I get to heal Harry the next time he needs it!" she shouted. Everybody chuckled.

"Harry, you showed them your elemental magic, no?" Godric asked the young man, who nodded. "The seven of you will have some limited control over the elements when you finish our training with us. It won't be as extensive as Harry's, who is able to control the four elements at leisure, but it will still help you when you run into the battle."

"Training?" Hermione asked. "How much time will we be here?"

"It depends on how fast do you learn everything, but don't fear, young lady," Renard said. "In this place, Time is nothing important. You could spend years in this place and when you came back to the present Hogwarts you would find that it had only passed a few hours. If I am not mistaken, Harry has that ability, but it is very draining to do so for long periods of time."

"Space-Time, huh?" Harry replied. "What about the Space thing? A few months ago, I managed to open some kind of black hole that swallowed a curse that was directed at Ginny, but I have no idea of how to control it."

"Never fear, young one. I was taught how to use that when I was young, but I was never able to create more than two or three of those holes at the same time. With the power you have running in your blood, you may be able to make around twenty or more of those," Salazar said.

"OK," Godric finally said, "the eight of you are going to have some nice lessons with us. Each of you will learn to use your weapon, which elements you will be able to control, you will learn how to turn into Animagi and you will learn your position in the army the eight of you will lead, and yes, Harry," he turned to his heir, "you will be the general."

Harry groaned. He just wished to disappear, to blend within the group, to be normal. But obviously that was not to be.

"Everything seems to happen to you, eh, mate?" Ron asked with sorrow.

"It does, Ron, it does," Harry replied.

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The next three months with the Founders were completely hectic, full of classes with them, learning how to use their weapons and how to control their powers.

Harry learnt in a bigger level how to control his elemental powers, and he finally managed to make a black hole consciously thanks to a very hard coaching from Salazar, but he had to concentrate a lot so that it really worked and it didn't go haywire. He also learnt how to fight with his sword and shield from Godric. He mastered several charms and transfiguration spells, and he created new offensive spells that he taught to his friends as soon as he could. He also was taught how to lead an army, how to take care of it and how to make sure there were no casualties.

Ginny was taught all the healing spells Gabrielle knew from when she was alive. There had been lots of improvements in the nearly a thousand years that had past since Gabrielle was alive, but they were still pretty useful and effective. She also learnt how to use the staff to fight, either by using it as if it was a normal wand or using it as a club, for it was a very hard wood the one that the staff was made of.

Ron worked very hard with Renard, Rowena Ravenclaw's husband, to learn how to use the axe at the best level possible. Ron already had the muscles he would need to move the weapon, so he only needed to make the movements. Strategy classes were also in his workload, to build over his natural strategic knowledge coming from all the time he had played chess with his family and friends.

Hale taught Hermione the workings of the bow, which had been specially designed to throw arrows at any point in the bearer's field of vision. Fighting with the bow was really bad when you had someone in front of you, but Hale taught her how to use the bow or an arrow if she needed to beat someone and didn't have time to use a spell, and how to change between the weapon and the wand as fast as possible.

Neville was, without a doubt, the one who was having more fun, since Helga was teaching him a lot of Herbology, especially those plants that could be used for medicinal or offensive purposes. The mere idea of launching Mandrakes at the enemies made him shiver! But not everything in his training was plants: he was also using the double swords, which were designed to be used close to the enemy and in a very fast way. The last thing was slightly difficult for the once clumsy boy, but with hard work and lots of hours of training helped him to overcome the obstacle.

Luna was having a hard time with Rowena. The Ravenclaw Founder had been teaching her the art of Foresight, which allowed her to see what could happen in the near future: the further she had been able to 'see' was approximately a week, but it had been little things like seeing Neville cut himself once, not that it prevented him from doing so. Her staff would help her fight like Ginny, but in a different way since the crystal ball on the top of it could break if it hit a very hard place.

Draco had also a very hard time with Salazar, who was training him to use the knives in all sort of ways, either by throwing them from a distance or by cutting people at short range. He was also taught a special form of Apparition that only worked for short distances, but it worked greatly even within the boundaries of Hogwarts, whose wards stopped normal long-distance Apparition. He explained that they had copied the trick from the house-elves they had hired when they started building the castle, but it didn't allow them to travel very far since they could not properly mimic the elves magic, just a few hundred yards, but it was still very useful for what Draco would do. Of course, the trick was taught to everybody in the group, but Draco was the one who trained the most for that.

Susan practised a lot with her flute, which Selena said had powers alike those of phoenixes, able to instil fear in the heart of evil and courage in the heart of good. She also practised music that would be useful if there was any battle among the Order of the Phoenix and the Death Eaters if she was present, because she could channel magic through the music and then send it to whomever she deemed proper, thus improving survival chances for the group, and she could also do offensive and defensive magic through her flute.

Of course, using their weapons was not the only thing they were taught: everybody – save Harry – learnt the use of their newly found elemental powers. Since they weren't naturals on the matter, they could only control the elements per se, no elementals for them. Ron and Ginny were better when using fire, Hermione and Luna had more control over air, Neville and Susan were more connected to earth and Draco was the only one whose powers were more akin to water.

They also learnt lots of old magic that wasn't taught at Hogwarts. One of them was a very cool trick that relied on the opponent's ability to cast a shield: when cast, the spell couldn't affect anybody, but if the opponent made a magical shield like _Protego_, the modified attacking spell would absorb the energy from the shield and then hit the unprotected opponent. Its main drawback was that it couldn't be used with the most powerful spells – like the Unforgivables – and that they only worked if it hit a shield, but in compensation the more energy was poured into maintaining the shield, the more powerful the spell would be. Harry nearly started to laugh when he thought about Voldemort's face when he was faced with that one!

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"Remember, you are going to be in the same moment and position from when you came here," Rowena said to the youngsters, who were preparing themselves to go back to the real Hogwarts, "and you may feel hurt, because you are going to get there so suddenly that there could be a small whiplash of magic. Try not to raise suspicions among your partners by not acting like if you have missed them after having seen them just a few minutes before you parted. The books in your Founders' Lair will help you with your training, and the book Harry found in our old vault should help you if Voldemort attacks your school."

"Harry, when you face my descendant," Slytherin told the dark-haired boy, "tell him I'm disappointed in him."

"I'll do it, Salazar," Harry replied.

"Thanks for everything, all of you," Hermione said. "It's been great to learn from you and the others."

"Hermione, there is nothing to thank us for. In the contrary, we thank you for being such good students and for being the ones that are going to stop the darkness that has plunged into the world since we were alive," Rowena replied, and in that exact moment the eight teenagers disappeared, coming back to Hogwarts and to their lives.

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Weeks passed for Hogwarts' students. Harry kept training with the DA in the Room of Requirement, teaching them all sort of spells to help them should there be an attack from the Death Eaters over the school. Under Harry's and Ron's co-captaincy, Gryffindor Quidditch Team trained thrice a week to beat the other teams. They didn't have to fear a possible confrontation against Draco, since he had been expelled from the Quidditch team because of him turning his back on the Death Eaters by Montague, the new captain of the Slytherin team. The group thought it was rather bad, because they would have liked to see a Quidditch match between the two friends, but they were comforted by the fact that they would be able to do so the next summer, when Draco was invited to the Burrow.

Slowly, everybody in the group was starting to master their Animagus forms, with Draco and Susan being behind the others because they had started much later than his friends, but they were progressing nonetheless. Ginny was the first – after Harry – to achieve her form, followed by Hermione. Harry had managed to transform himself in two more forms, the lion and the eagle. Ron had his panther form nearly done, but had yet to do the whole animal at the same time. The same happened to Neville and Luna.

The breakthrough of the elemental magic learned under the Founders meant that Harry wouldn't have to attend more classes on that subject: those hours were instead used by Dumbledore to instruct Harry deeply in the workings of the Ministry and the Wizengamot, as well as some extra training in Legillimency.

Out of Hogwarts, things were escalating between the Aurors and the Death Eaters, the latter of which were aided by the Dementors and creatures such as trolls, vampires and werewolves – the latter saddened Lupin because those few werewolves that had decided to side against Voldemort were having their names scorched because of their association, but it didn't stop his friends from still liking him.

Meanwhile, a date Harry hated for its connotations was approaching: Halloween. That day had been when he had been made orphan and his parents had been killed when he was one, in his first year Quirrell had let a troll get into Hogwarts, second year it had been the first attack of the Basilisk, in the third year Sirius had made his first attempt to enter Gryffindor Tower in his search of Wormtail and a year after he had been chosen by the Goblet of Fire 'thanks' to the influence of the fake Moody. Last year nothing had happened on Halloween, but he reckoned that having to bear the toad-woman hybrid that called herself Umbridge was enough to overcompensate for the lack of strange things happening on Halloween.

Harry suspected that Voldemort would try to bring something very good – for him, that is – out for that day, because it would mark the fifteenth anniversary of his first defeat, and Harry knew the Dark Lord loved the theatrics and he also knew the kind of message he wanted to send with that kind of attack: one of terror and like if he was saying 'In spite of all your efforts, I'm still here!'.

So that was why, the week before Halloween, Harry told Dumbledore about something he had never thought of.

"Professor, if Voldemort is able to look at my mind through our link, don't you believe it would be possible for me to do the opposite, to have a look at his mind?"

Dumbledore thought carefully.

"Although it could be very useful," he said, "it would also be very dangerous. Your training with Legillimency, while very advanced, is not enough good to just go and get into Voldemort's mind."

"Well, it would only be to have a look around. I can make Legillimency with enough subtlety so that I'm not caught by the recipient," Harry replied, looking at Dumbledore's eyes directly.

"Are you sure, Harry?" Dumbledore asked with some concern.

Instead of replying, Harry started to laugh.

"Really nice, sir," Harry said between laughs. "Those bunny socks were very funny. When did you get them?"

For the first time ever, Harry saw Dumbledore blush, albeit slightly.

"It was my fiftieth anniversary. And it wasn't nice to search in my private memories like that, Harry, although I must accept that your ability with Legillimency is far better than I thought."

"Should I try, then?" Harry asked.

"I suppose that, if I order you not to do it, you will just do it anyway, no? Well, if you manage to convince Fabian to help you with that, you can do it."

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"Are you sure you want to do this, Harry?" Fabian asked. Both Harry and Fabian were sitting down comfortably in the rooms Dumbledore had provided for the lessons the older man gave the student.

"Yes, Fabian. I'm not sure that Snape will be able to get the plans from Voldemort. Anyway, there is the possibility that Voldemort either orders Snape to stay at Hogwarts or is only told of one of the tasks, or even he may have started to suspect Snape is the spy and gives him false information… all those things could happen, or none of them, but it is still worth it to take a peek at Voldemort's mind and search for any plans he has made."

"It's true, Harry, but you know that it'll be very dangerous, no?"

"If I do it carefully, I won't be detected. I managed to do it to Dumbledore yesterday, and Voldemort is so haughty and arrogant that he won't expect the attack."

"I concede the point, Harry. I can anchor you to this place and protect your mind, but you will have to search Voldemort's mind alone."

Harry nodded and relaxed his mind, so that he could enter his mind and search the link to Voldemort's mind. While he explored the labyrinth he had built to protect his memories, he felt Fabian casted the _Legilimens_ spell on him, and soon the form of the adult wizard appeared next to him.

It was a hard search of nearly half an hour, but finally Harry found it in the deepest part of the labyrinth. There were no memories near the place that marked where the link had put itself when Harry built his mind defences, but it was still in a very important place.

The mark looked like Harry's scar on his forehead, but reversed in a mirror. It had a very dark colour, and whenever Harry tried to touch it the scar on his forehead itched.

_This is it,_ Harry told Fabian. _What do you think I should do?_

_Just touch it; I believe it will take you to Voldemort's mind. I've just never found anything like this, a direct link between two people's minds that works independently from the distance that separates them, so I may be wrong,_ Fabian said.

_I have to try, anyway,_ Harry replied. _Will you guard the place from here?_

_Wait a moment, Harry,_ Fabian said, pulling a rope out of one of his robe's pockets and tying it around Harry's waist.

_Wow, when you said would be anchoring me, I wouldn't have imagined you would do so rather literally. _

Fabian laughed. _Since this is an unconventional situation, it requires unconventional methods. Normally, it only implies making some kind of mind merging between the anchor and the other Legilimens, but you are going to go into uncharted territory, you will need something more secure._

_Thanks,_ Harry said, and he jumped towards the mark in the wall that represented his scar. Pain flared through his head, but it stopped soon. When he had a look around Voldemort's mind, he was both surprised and disgusted.

The place the Dark Lord had chosen as his mind protection looked like Hogwarts, but it was really warped: it had lots of tombstones on one side of the grounds, the Forbidden Forest was completely burned out and blackened, the Black Lake was now earning that name…

The five towers of the castle – Gryffindor Tower, Ravenclaw Tower, the Owlery, the Astronomy Tower and the Divination Tower – had been completely demolished, leaving only the remains scattered on the grounds, and some corpses could be seen among the rubble.

Harry had arrived, strangely, to the point where the Whomping Willow was in Hogwarts, and he entered carefully through the grounds, recognising everything from the real Hogwarts, but twisted into Voldemort's desires. In the place were Hagrid's hut stood, there were some burnt stones that Harry could recognise as those that formed the stone floor of the hut. The greenhouses seemed to be partially intact, but a short peek showed only dangerous plants like Vampiric Vines or Tentacula Venomosas, and the main door seemed to be scorched, and was slightly opened.

So far, Harry had not seen yet anything that could be a place in which memories could be stored, so he thought those would be inside the school, so he went cautiously towards the door and opened it. He looked then into the Entrance Hall, and since the coast seemed to be clear, he entered there.

The first place he looked was the Great Hall, which had been greatly deformed from the normal version: instead of five tables, one for the teachers, four for the students, there was only one large table in the middle of the Hall, with several smaller tables scattered in the free space, and Dumbledore's chair looked to be in the preferential position: obviously, it was a reflection of Voldemort wishing the power of Hogwarts. Harry reached the table and was surprised to see that each of the plates and goblets held a memory. When Harry touched one of those, using extra-care, he saw the young Tom Riddle writing an essay for Charms: the memories in that place seemed to be those related to normal life when he was a normal person.

Harry decided to leave the Hall and explore other places in the 'building'. However, he was horrified to see that, as a 'decoration' for the Great Hall, Voldemort had decided to use Harry's bloody corpse, nailed to the wall as if it was a normal picture.

Harry stood there, looking at his dead look-a-like, for a few seconds, running away from the Hall before the need to puke was overwhelming. When he arrived back to the Entrance Hall, he decided to come downstairs and look for two places in which he was sure he would find something of real interest: the Potions lab and Slytherin's common room.

In the first place, Harry found just a few memories from his life at the orphanage he lived in before knowing he was to go to Hogwarts. Apart from the fact that he was a bully and that he had been able to control his magic and his ability to use Parseltongue, nothing important could be picked in save for some info that Harry could use against him.

Slytherin's common room, on the other side, had some very important things that although they couldn't really help the Order, could be very useful: he managed to find the identities of all the Death Eaters that Voldemort had at his disposition, the meetings he had had with creatures like the Dementors (Harry had been surprised to see that Dementors had their own language, since they seemed to understand human languages perfectly, but he supposed that after sucking so many memories and souls they would have caught the rudiments of English) and Vampires, convincing them to join his side with all sorts of promises that, should those be kept to the end, it wouldn't bode well for the Wizarding World.

He also saw how he had developed the spell he used to put the Dark Mark on his follower's arms from a very old spell that was used by the shamans in certain tribes of the Ancient Times, and Harry vowed to study the spell so that he could erase Snape's mark. There were also the memories of the attacks he had lead through the years. Harry knew that he could have probably seen there the attack on his family on that horrendous Halloween of fifteen years ago, but he decided to leave it untouched: the feelings that particular memory would make unrest on him would very probably alert Voldemort of his presence.

_Where will Voldemort have left his other memories?_ Harry asked himself._I could try with the library, since he surely studied there, and then the Chamber of Secrets._ With that in mind, he went to the library, which he was surprised to see right in the first floor._I suppose he didn't want to think of all the details, or maybe he didn't expect something like this from me._

The normal section of the Library, instead of books, held the memories of all the spells he had learnt at Hogwarts, and some others that he had obviously learnt on his own, using the books at the library. Harry 'copied' those memories into his mind, grinning slightly at the fact that with that everything should be easier: he could even go and pass all his N.E.W.T.s without breaking a sweat.

However, the restricted section equivalent of Voldemort's mind was filled with all the dark curses and hexes he had learnt after leaving Hogwarts, including the three Unforgivable curses, the flame-thrower hex Dolohov used on Hermione at the Department of Mysteries, and several others which Harry steered clear of: he would rather live without knowing about all those curses. Furthermore, he still wished to look at anything Voldemort may have at the Chamber of Secrets.

He went to the bathroom in the second floor from where the entrance to the Chamber was, and he noticed that it looked exactly like it was nowadays at Hogwarts, save for the presence of Moaning Myrtle.

_Not that her absence has changed much in a lot of time_, Harry mused, entering the Chamber as fast as he could without warning Voldemort of his presence.

The Chamber looked like the real counterpart, without the remains of the Basilisk (which Harry had banished a few weeks ago) and everything else looked slightly less muddy than the first time Harry had visited the place, which meant that even fifty years meant a lot in terms of dirtiness.

Soon, he arrived at the first room of the chamber, the one where Harry had found Ginny four years and a half ago, and there they were, all the plans Voldemort's twisted mind had concocted for the last two years.

Harry went slowly, taking note of as many plans as he could, without raising the attention. He found one plan to attack the Ministry, involving the unwilling help of one or two officials that would be either under the Imperious Curse or blackmailed with threats of harming their families. Others involved Diagon Alley, several cities in England, a few travels to France and Centre and Eastern Europe in search of either allies or magical artefacts – Harry made sure to note down where said artefacts where staying more likely -, and how he was recovering from the setback that losing the Malfoy family's money had supposed.

However, he then found out something that he would never expect to see there.

Apparently, Lucius Malfoy had told Voldemort what had happened with his old diary, and had given him the remains. Voldemort had been surprised to hear that Ginny had been so powerful to resist him for so much time without any help from Dumbledore, and he had made plans for her 'future': he would try to use her as a bait for Harry, and when he killed him, he…

Harry's anger flared up: that damned Voldemort was going to use Ginny as a breeder! His plan was to drive her insane, like the Lestranges had done with Neville's parents, and then use her to have a heir with him!

A bit too late, Harry realised that Voldemort must have been alerted with his anger, and he ran away from the place as fast as he was able to.

He had set a foot in the Entrance Hall when a sibilant voice Harry knew too well was heard.

"Hello, Potter. Did you miss me?"

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Well, that's chapter 18 for you! I hope you have enjoyed it!

First thing, the Founders. I've read many fanfictions in which Godric Gryffindor was married to Rowena Ravenclaw, but for my idea, I needed him – and the others – to be married to other wizards so that it worked OK. Salazar bit about being sorry is just because in the end, after leaving Hogwarts, he realised that Muggle-borns weren't as bad as he thought, but he died before he could tell anyone about his change of mind.

Being able to stay three months with the Founders when hardly a few minutes have passed in reality is something that was slightly influenced by a few fics like 'Ascension of the Scorpion Sorcerer' and, as you may think, from that famous room – whose name I can't remember – in Dragon Ball Z. All the skills the group learns will be useful in the future, I can tell you that.

A word about why Harry is able to get into Voldemort's mind and raid his memories with so much easiness: he is so arrogant that he is completely sure no one would ever try to use Legillimency on him, because he believes himself to be better than anybody. I'm not saying he is rubbish at it, only that he doesn't care about using it constantly – that's how he catches Harry when he gets furious at his plans for Ginny.

Finally, don't worry a lot about Harry. He will be able to escape, a bit sore, but he will be able to do so. And he might leave a little present for Voldemort, of course!


	19. Trick or Treat: A Nice Way To Pass Hallo

Chapter 19

Trick or Treat: A Nice Way To Pass Halloween

Harry turned around, and was surprised to see that, instead of the putrid snake-look-a-like, he was looking at the handsome face of Tom Riddle, the young man that had, fifty years ago, turned into a path that would make him the ugly old man that he normally was.

Harry was still incensed at Voldemort's plan for _his_ Ginny, so when he saw him he wasn't able to resist the possibility of cracking a good joke over the change of appearance of Tom.

"Oh my God, it's Tom Riddle," he shrieked. "You really have changed since the last time I saw you, when you were hardly a little walking corpse! Please, do tell me which doctor you went to, I know a few people who would kill for the same treatment you got!"

Riddle's eyes flashed red. "Do not call me by that foul name! I am…"

"I see your lips moving, but I only hear _Blah, blah, blah,_" Harry mocked him. "Frankly, your made-up-name is really bad. There are people in the Muggle world that have more imagination than you. I remember this singer with a symbol…"

"I don't care about Muggles, Potter!"

"It doesn't surprise me, although I suppose that having a Muggle daddy would have made you think a bit before starting to kill them. Did you tell your girlfriend Bella that you are a half-blood, Tommy-boy?" Harry taunted him. Recklessness and Problems were – as well as James – Harry's middle name, after all, and pissing off his archenemy was very funny, especially when he had been both infuriated and out-witted by a sixteen-year-old boy he had tried to kill five times and had failed every time.

"I'll kill you, Potter!" Riddle screamed.

_OK, that's my cue to leave,_ Harry thought. The first thing he had to do was to search the way out of Voldemort's mind by means of following the rope that tied him to Fabian.

However, Riddle had other ideas in mind, and wasn't exactly about going to let Harry get out so easily, so he tried to close the doors that led to the 'grounds', but Harry was fortunately able to jump out, because if the doors had closed in front of him, he wouldn't have been able to go back to his own mind.

When he was in the middle of the grounds, Tom appeared in front of Harry, and all hell broke loose with the fight that started between the two wizards.

Tom had obviously the advantage of his experience, having used the mind magic for much more time than Harry, and the fact that the fight was being done in his mind which he could control, but Harry had a few more advantages than Tom: he was able to do more unorthodox and unexpected things, did not underestimate his enemy, and did not have to be careful with what he used to fend his enemy off.

That was why, after what seemed to be half an hour, the outer wall of the castle had been half destroyed with all the pot-shots Harry was throwing to destabilize Voldemort's mind. The latter was doing his best to mend all the damage, but Harry's ability to concentrate on two different things at the same time, the trick he had first used last summer against Fabian and Dumbledore in their joint attack, wreaked havoc there, attacking Tom so that he had to defend his representation within his mind and breaking as most as he could.

He knew that, if he somehow managed to destroy the main protections of someone else's mind, then he could provoke all kind of uncomfortable (for the mind's host) effects: disorientation, fatigue, constant headaches, migraines, partial loss of magic, temporal amnesia, temporal anterograde amnesia (that is, the inability of remembering things that have just happened), magical coma and, in very extreme cases, death.

Harry didn't know if he would be able to kill Voldemort that way, but he was going to do his best to cause the maximal inconvenience for Voldemort.

"Just surrender, Potter!" Tom shouted. "You'll never be able to reach my level of magical power!"

"Riiight," Harry said, derisively, while launching bolts that utterly destroyed the wall that separated the Great Hall from the grounds. "That's why I'm winning here, because you have more magical power, no?"

Harry's smirk infuriated Tom even more, so he just decided to forego the rebuilding of his mind and just went all forward to attack Harry, but he again underestimated the young man, because he managed to protect himself with a mind shield that reflected all the attacks towards the castle, causing even more destruction to the castle. Five minutes into the attack, Harry was sweating profusely, but so was Tom, who had been behaving erratically for the last three minutes, proving that the attack was taking a high toll to his mind.

_This is enough,_ Harry told himself. _I should be coming back to my body._

"Well, Tommy-boy, it's not that I don't enjoy your company… who cares, I really hate you, but I just need to go home. Bye!"

And, with a few more bolts, which pushed Tom out of the way, Harry was able to cross the scar that signalled the bridge between his mind and Voldemort's.

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"Welcome back, Harry," Fabian said when Harry woke up from the trance in which he had entered before the attack on Voldemort's mind. Fabian had left Harry's mind as soon as they had perfectly warded the surroundings of Harry's inner scar, and then Harry had made sure nothing inside was out of order before waking up.

"How did it go there, Harry?"

"It wasn't very bad. I just managed to learn everything Hogwarts teaches, more kinds of potions than you could imagine, and all his short and long term plans." Then, he grinned. "Plus, I managed to piss him off royally, and I sort of destroyed his defences."

"WHAT!" Fabian shouted.

"Apparently, I was right. His mind defences were really bad, I managed to get inside without a problem, Voldemort didn't detect I was inside until I had seen all his plans and he didn't see me until the moment I was getting out."

"Give me a second, Harry. Albus should know about this." Fabian took a pinch of Floo Powder, which he threw into the fireplace and shouted, "Albus! Come here, please, we have some news to tell you!"

Soon, Professor Dumbledore had come through the fireplace, brushing the soot away from his robe. "What is it, Fabian? I was a bit busy with the budget report for the next term, but if it is such important news, then I think it can wait."

"Harry, tell us what you did during your 'walk', please," Fabian asked, Conjuring three chairs and a table while Dumbledore asked the elves for some tea and biscuits. Harry sat down and told Albus of everything he had encountered within Voldemort's mind. Dumbledore seemed sad at hearing what Voldemort had planned to do with Hogwarts, and Fabian had been impressed at seeing both the caution with which Harry had infiltrated the Dark Lord's mind and the arrogance the latter had shown by his inability to better organise his memories within his own mind.

When Harry arrived to the part where he remembered the plans Voldemort had made, Dumbledore Summoned a parchment and wrote down everything Harry remembered. Harry said a few words about the plan Voldemort had for Ginny – which both scared and angered him – and after a fast summary of the mind fight, he ran away, with the intention of making sure Ginny was alright, in spite of the fact that he had seen her a few hours ago.

"What do you think, Albus?" Fabian said, once Harry had gone out of the office.

"The plan Voldemort had for Miss Weasley must have really disturbed him. The idea of him having an heir seems strange to me, but it may be that he intends to possess the body of whomever he deems his heir. When I saw his body last June, the one he created at that ritual the night of the Third Task, it was in decay, and he may wish to have a younger body on which he will be able to perform a series of charms that would conserve the body. Anyway, I expect Harry manages to recover from that mind attack."

"The thing that really surprised me was the fact that Harry was able to get into Voldemort's mind without him finding out, as well as the ability Harry demonstrated when searching the correct memories. And nearly destroying all his mental defences before coming back!"

"You have been a very good professor for Harry, Fabian," Dumbledore said, smiling. "I wouldn't be surprised if Harry was able to enter both of our minds and defeat us without exhausting himself, and by the rhythm he is picking up things, he will be able to use Mindspeech before Christmas starts. And, talking about Harry's finding of the memories in such a short time, I have to say that he is one of the very few people who truly understand Voldemort, what things drive him and what things he hates. Probably that's why he managed to mock him with such effectiveness," Dumbledore said, chuckling. When Harry had arrived at 'I see your lips moving, but I only hear _Blah, blah, blah_,' he had outright laughed, knowing Voldemort really hated when people didn't pay attention at him or mocked his penchant of theatrics whenever he faced someone he wanted to kill.

"Yes, he has a good sense of humour. And who else would be that understands Voldemort so well, Albus?"

"One of them is me, since I taught him when he came to Hogwarts. I was the one who delivered his Hogwarts letter fifty-eight years ago, and I watched him closely during the seven years he was at Hogwarts. The thing that really pains me was that I wasn't able to stop Hagrid from being expelled after the incident with the Chamber of Secrets. I knew that Tom had to do more with the Chamber's opening than everybody thought, and that it was rather fishy that he supposedly found out about Hagrid and his Acromantula pet just right after he was told by the then Headmaster Dippet that he wouldn't be able to stay at the castle during the holidays, but nobody else believed my suspicions, and I didn't know the whole truth about that fact until recently."

"And the other?" Fabian asked.

"That would be Miss Weasley. Maybe you remember that three years ago I was fired because I wasn't able to stop the petrifications. After he opened the Chamber of Secrets, Tom created some kind of diary that he charmed so that he could possess an eventual future owner of the diary and keep killing Muggle-borns. Voldemort gave the diary to Lucius Malfoy to keep it safe, but after so much time without a Voldemort sighting, Lucius decided to use it for his own personal gain. That's why he gave it to Ginevra Weasley, to disgrace the name of the Weasleys and to sink Arthur Weasley's career. Miss Weasley was possessed by Tom Riddle and used to open the Chamber again. Fortunately, Harry was able to save her when she was taken in an effort from Tom to resurrect himself. From that connection, Miss Weasley learned a lot about Tom Riddle, but I wouldn't suggest asking her that."

"I won't do it, Albus. Onto something more important: what do you fathom of the destruction of Voldemort's magical defences?"

"That will have to wait until Severus comes back from his next meeting. Until then, there will be nothing we can do but hope."

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Harry ran upstairs towards Gryffindor's common room, where he knew his friends and his girlfriend were studying. That afternoon they had the Animagus classes with Professor McGonagall, that was why they were doing their homework at that moment. Harry had managed to do all the homework thanks to his elementals (who were able to write the essays in his handwriting and with his knowledge), so that was why he had gone to Fabian that morning to make the attempt to attack Voldemort's mind.

"Victory," Harry told the Fat Lady, who opened the entrance to the common room. Harry saw his girlfriend sitting down on a sofa, and went straight to her, enveloping her in a bear-hug worthy of Mrs. Weasley and kissing her in ten places on her face and then hard on her lips, desperate for the taste and feeling of her.

"Wow, Harry," Ginny said when her boyfriend freed her. "It's not that I complain about this, but why are you doing this?" Then she noticed the sombre face he had.

"I've visited Voldemort's mind," he replied in a whisper, "and I saw many things that were not pretty at all."

"Will you tell me, please?" Ginny asked in a low voice.

**I'd rather not, Ginny,** Harry thought. **It was truly awful.**

_Harry?_ Ginny thought, also.

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"I still think there is something we did not tell them," Godric said, in an increasingly impatient tone.

"Oh, Godric, why are you so sure?" Salazar said. "I'm sure we told those eight miscreants everything that we had to tell them for their work."

"Don't mind what you believe, Salazar. I'm sure there was something important that we never got to tell them about."

**Rick, honey, could you come to our room? I have a problem**, Gabrielle told her husband by means of their telepathic connection.

**I'll be there soon**, Godric sent back. He stood up when he suddenly remembered – or was reminded – of the _exact_thing they had forgotten to tell Harry and his friends.

"Crap!" Godric shouted, and then he made a mental connection with all his friends.

**We have a problem. We _did_ forget to tell Harry something**, he sent.

**Oh, Godric!** Rowena said with a mental 'eye rolling'. **You have been saying that for more than a month since the kids left! **

**Are you still obsessed over that?** Hale said.

**I'm NOT obsessed, thank you very much!** Godric said with a clear tone of impatience. **We didn't tell them about the Mind Hub! **

If a pin had been dropped in the whole Founders' Lair, the eight of them would have been perfectly able to hear it.

**Crap!** Seven minds said at once.

**My thoughts, exactly,** Godric said.

**Meeting in the Octagonal Room NOW!** Helga said with urgency.

The eight friends sat down in their respective seats, prepared to deal with the problem that their oblivion of the ability Harry, Ron, Neville, Draco, Ginny, Hermione, Luna and Susan were going to share was going to cause a few problems when any of the teenagers suddenly activated it.

"I think that it is a bit late," Helga said first. "In order to work again, the special charm we put on the weapons would have to recharge the equivalent to ten years, unless Harry and the others manage to find how to recharge them on their own."

"Rowena, what do you think that will happen when they stumble over the Mind Hub that will be kept between them?" Selena said. The witch that gave name to the Hogwarts House of the more intelligent people reflected about it.

"It will be a very strange feeling for them," Rowena replied. "If you remember, when we formed our own Mind Hub, we were prepared for all the things that would happen to us, because we had studied everything related to the Hub, but since they didn't know about it, they are very likely to find it one by one, and every time that happens, the person who finds the Hub will be able to talk with others and to reach his memories, but they won't be able to do the same until they reach the Hub."

"Godric," Gabrielle said, "I hope that you put the book about the Mind Hub in the library before you died. It'll be the only way those boys will be able to understand what is happening to them."

"Yes, dear. It's in the shelf between Ravenclaw's Corridor and Slytherin's Room," Godric said. "I just hope that they find it soon, or it will be a mess."

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"Harry, why did you say it was awful?" Ginny asked. The black-haired boy raised his eyes and looked at hers.

"I didn't say anything, Ginny. I just thought it," he replied.

"It's true, he didn't say anything," Hermione said.

"Well, somehow I managed to hear what you were thinking, then," Ginny insisted.

"Maybe he used that Mindspeech thing he is learning with Fabian," Ron suggested.

Harry shook his head. "Mindspeech can only be used if you wish to use it, and you also have to concentrate on the person you want to talk with. I may be able to do magic without a wand, but I'm sure that this was nothing like Mindspeech."

Hermione was thoughtful. "It's been a month since we met _them_. Maybe there was something they forgot to tell us."

"It could be. Do you know where Neville is?" Harry asked.

"He is at the grounds, I think," Ginny said with a giggle. "Luna told me that she wanted to have some good time with him, well far away from the Amperdings that live at that closet in the fourth floor, which she added she had a very good time with the prank my brothers pulled on you," she grinned wickedly.

"Poor Neville," Ron said.

"What do you mean by that, Ron?" Hermione said, the tone clearly showing that Ron's health would be compromised if he said something out of line.

"Well, if Luna was as passionate on Neville as you were on me, it would have been something near a miracle that he was able to survive the lack of air," he replied, winking at his girlfriend. Hermione blushed when remembering the events of that day, but at least it had not gone further than some kisses and… _touching_… over the clothes.

"Thank you very much, Ronald," Ginny said, groaning. "I would have lived happier if you _hadn't_ reminded me of THAT!"

"Changing matters," Harry said, before any of the siblings told the other something that would result into an all-out sibling-brawl, "I think we should try to do some investigation in the Lair. Maybe they left something there that could answer our questions."

"Not now! We have to finish the essays!" Hermione said.

"We can do it this afternoon, after dinner," Ron proposed. "If we tell the others, we may be able to find whatever we are looking for faster."

" Sure!" Hermione replied.

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That night, after everybody had dinner, the eight teenagers joined each other at the Founders' Lair through the different passages that connected the Common Rooms to the Octagonal Room, the room where the group had met the Founders.

"OK, this is the problem," Harry addressed the others when they sat down. "This morning, I took a special walk into Tommy's mind thanks to the connection we share." Everybody else – save Ginny, who had a slight idea of what had happened after the comment Harry had made – gasped at the shock it had been. "The main goal of the 'walk' was to see all the plans he has made for any attack he has decided to do. I'll show you what happened with my Pensieve."

Harry had put his Pensieve over the table and added the memory of Harry's attack to Voldemort's mind. Then the eight teenagers touched the silvery substance with a finger and entered the world of Harry's memories.

Harry knew, from earlier experiences, that a memory about the use of Legillimency would show all the memories that the Legilimens managed to watch during his or her attack, so his friends would be able to see everything Harry had seen. He really dreaded the fact that they – Ginny especially – would see the plan Voldemort had for her, but he hoped that, if she broke down – which he doubted, because she was really strong – he would be able to comfort her before things went out of control.

The eight boys and girls saw – or remembered, in Harry's case – how Harry's representation entered the decayed and destroyed Hogwarts that represented Voldemort's mind. They followed him to the Great Hall, the dungeons, the library and then the Chamber of Secrets. They saw as Harry copied the memories of the spells and the potions, and they saw him watching all the plans with care.

The problem was when the Harry in the memory saw Voldemort's most hateful plan. The girls gasped, the boys were both paled and angered, and Ginny's face was one of pure hate towards the one that was daring to think of her as a breeder for him, although Harry could see the shock in her eyes.

"At least the next part is better," Harry told them while he hugged Ginny carefully. "I really managed to piss him off a lot."

The eight teenagers had some fun watching as memory-Harry beat the crap out of memory-Tom, really pissing him off and destroying all his mental defences, but Harry still could see that Voldemort's plan for Ginny had shaken them a lot, and when they went out of the Pensieve, they went towards her to try and comfort her, efforts that ended in a group hug centred around the red-haired girl.

"I swear that Tom will not touch a hair of yours," Harry promised to Ginny when the group hug ended. "In fact, I promise to serve him on a silver platter so that you can kick him where it hurts the most in vengeance of that."

"If he is not human, I doubt that the place where it would hurt him the worst is the same as anybody else," Luna said with a smile.

All the boys trembled at what Luna was suggesting. "Damn, that's spooky," Ron said.

"OK, now that's out in the air, what happened that warranted such an important meeting?" Draco asked.

"Well, after I came 'back' from Tom's mind, I went straight to Gryffindor's tower, because I needed to hug Ginny. When she asked what had happened, I only thought of something about it, but Ginny was able to hear it anyway. We think it's something that has to do with all this," Harry said, twisting his hand to point at everything in the Founders' Lair.

"Do you think that the answer may be in this room? There are a lot of books here, and all of them are written either in Latin or in Old English, both of which are really hard to understand," Draco said.

"My aunt made me study Anglo-Saxon when I was younger," Susan claimed. "We had a lot of old documents and manuscripts in our house, and, since I'm the heir and future Head of the House of Bones, she made me study everything about the language, either written or spoken."

"And I think that the rest of us have a bit of understanding in Latin. Nearly all the charms and spells we use have a Latin root, so we could just extrapolate from…" Hermione said.

"Extra-what?" Ron asked.

Hermione looked at her boyfriend. "Let's put it this way. Do you remember _Legilimens_, the charm you can use to read someone's mind?"

"Yes."

"That charm is in Latin, and it's divided in two parts: _Legili_, which comes from _Legere,_ read; and _Mens_, mind."

"Ahh," Ron said, understanding. "So we should find a book that says something about _Mens_, since Harry used his mind to 'talk' with Ginny. Correct?"

"Correct," she replied. "Let's start to work, there are a lot of books in here and it's going to take us a lot of time."

Hermione was right: few books of the lot had any title on the spine or the cover, so each of them had to be opened carefully and read before being put back on its place in the shelf. Each of the teenagers was tackling each of the shelves in the room, always hoping that the next book would have the answer to the problem that Harry had encountered.

When Harry's watch announced it was half past ten in the evening, Susan said: "I think I have found it!"

Everybody rushed to the table, where Susan had put a small red leather-bound book, with golden and silver linings on the spine and three bronze words in Latin: _Inter Mentis Communicatio_.

"It has a Latin title, but the inside is in Anglo-Saxon," Susan explained. "It's really hard to understand, but from the first few things I read on this, it says that the eight Founders somehow managed to make a special kind of communication that only worked between them, but also allowed them to talk to each other instantly, independently of the place in which they were or if there were any wards between them. I can't understand the mechanics of it, though; it's written in mostly some jargon."

"Isn't there some translating charm in a book, Hermione?" Harry asked. "And a copying charm?"

"Yes," Hermione said. "But I would need you to conjure eight books like this one. I need one of them to pass the translation and other one to copy the writing."

"OK," Harry said. Within seconds, and a wave of his wand, eight leather books stood around the first. Each of them had the same title as the original one, but the back cover had been given an engraving that stood for their respective Animagus forms.

"Oh, thanks. Give me a few minutes and I'll pull it off," Hermione said with a smile. She brandished her wand and made a complex wand movement and ended pointing it at the old book while whispering something Harry wasn't able to catch. Something like smoke that kept changing between red and blue colours went out of the book, going into the book in front of her. With other movement and words, the smoke went to the other books, one by one, this time in solid blue colour.

"That's it," Hermione said when the smoke disappeared. "Now, all of us have a copy in English of the book. It may be difficult to do all this, but I suppose we could manage to make some of this between us."

"Why don't we meet here every Saturday?" Harry proposed. "That way, we can watch our progress with this."

The suggestion was fast accepted by everyone.

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"Headmaster, there is something of the utmost importance that I have to tell you," Snape said through the internal Floo that connected the main rooms at Hogwarts and all the professors' offices.

"I suppose this has something to do with Voldemort, no?" Dumbledore asked rhetorically.

"Yes. I'll come through the Floo in a few moments."

"Take your time, Severus. You must be tired."

Indeed, he was. The Dark Lord had called all the free Inner Circle Death Eaters to a meeting in which they were to discuss the plans for Halloween. He had devised five different attacks to mark the fifteenth anniversary of his first – and, hopefully (for him, that is), his last – death: one that would attack the Ministry, another one to Diagon Alley, the third would strike the magical town of Hogsmeade, a fourth that would travel to Azkaban in order to free the rest of the Inner Circle and the last would go to a randomly chosen city to do some Muggle-hunting. When he was in the process of assigning the leadership of the attacks, he had shut up and muttered something about 'the Potter brat'. After half an hour, he had started to pant and sweat profusely, and a few minutes later, he had screamed bloody murder, fainted, and a magical backlash had soared through all the Dark Marks, making them bleed profusely and rendering all the bearers (including Snape) unconscious.

Snape had been the first to wake up, possibly thanks to his custom of waking up sooner than normal and the fact that, somehow, the backlash had been slightly less hard on him than on the others (he didn't know that it was a side effect of the many anti-Cruciatus potions he had drunk in the last year) and saw that everybody else was still knocked out. The first thing he tried to do was to wake up his Lord, but not even his most powerful _Ennervate_ would work on him. He decided to turn to the others, so that they could help him determine what the hell had happened to them.

While he used the Waking Charm on Rabastan Lestrange, he pondered about what the Dark Lord had been talking about when he mentioned Harry Potter. He supposed that Potter had gotten himself into other vision, but Dumbledore had told him that Voldemort had never realised when Harry was able to see either him or through his eyes. The dark wizard had managed to turn that ability into his benefit, showing Potter the 'capture' of Sirius Black so that he picked up the prophecy, but the plan had gone awry when Potter's friends had gone with him and they were able to defend themselves from the Death Eaters, and their only victory (Sirius Black's death) had been short-lived when Black had been returned from the Other Side, as he had explained him in a private meeting in which he had apologized for how bad the Marauders had treated him when they were students.

This time was more like as if Harry had voluntarily gone into the Dark Lord's mind, something so… recklessly _Gryffindor_ to do! However, the fact that Potter was able to last so much into the Dark Lord's mind spoke highly of him, he reflected, and managing to knock him out…

Before leaving the Dark Lord to the other Death Eaters' ministrations, he risked himself and casted subtle Legilimency on the Dark Lord. The Potions Master was astonished at the complete destruction that had come upon the mind. He even managed to find Lord Voldemort's representation within his mind, completely incoherent and jabbering.

He had quickly left after that and had Apparated to the town of Hogsmeade, from where he run to the castle's dungeons where his living quarters and office were.

Once he had changed robes and had drunk a pain-relieving potion to reduce the effects of the magical backlash on him, he went through the internal Floo network and landed in the Headmaster's office.

"It's been long since you left this morning, child," Dumbledore told the younger wizard.

"How many times do I have told you that you are not to call me 'child'?" Severus asked angrily.

"Higher than I can count, I suppose," the older wizard said, his eyes twinkling. "Lemon drop?"

Severus didn't accept the sweet.

"Pity," he replied, popping one in his mouth. "Would you mind to tell me what happened that retained you with the Death Eaters?"

"The Dark Lord was discussing with us the plans he had for Halloween's day, since it is fifteen years after he was first vanquished. In one moment, he said something about Potter and after some time he, as well as all in the room including myself, fell unconscious to the floor. I woke up first and, after waking up the others, I risked some Legilimency on the Dark Lord."

"How did it look, Severus?"

"Astounding! Potter really did a good work with his abilities. I think twenty points for Gryffindor are in order. And don't you dare to tell anyone about this, Albus!" Severus growled at the old wizard.

"My lips are sealed, Severus," he replied, wishing that he could tell someone that he had witnessed a miracle: Severus Snape, Head of the House of Slytherin, willingly giving points to Gryffindor, and not only that, but he gave them to the son of his biggest school enemy! Probably nobody would believe him, but he would treasure the memory until his dying day. "How much time do you think Voldemort will be out of commission? I honestly have to say that I have never faced something like this, although I had been told about the effects of something of this caliber, and if I have to trust both you and Harry, the damage was quite severe."

Severus nodded grimly. "Severe is just a mild understatement. Potter was able to completely wreck the whole mental defence system the Dark Lord had put in his mind. A five-year-old boy with a faint grasp in Legilimency would be able to reach nearly all his darkest secrets. I just would like to know how Potter outdid the Dark Lord in something in which he has just a few months experience in Occlumency and Legilimency against more than thirty years in both those and many Dark Arts practices and rituals."

"You must remember that time when Fabian and I showed you what Harry had been able to do to stop both of us at the same time, no?" Dumbledore asked, and Snape nodded. "Apparently, Harry has instinctively developed the ability to concentrate on two things at the same time when using the Mind Arts. While he was telling me what he had been doing, he said that he was able to protect himself from the attacks as well as attacking both Tom – since Voldemort's mind representation is that of his former body – and the protection he had set around his thoughts, which coincidentally was his own twisted version of Hogwarts. You can now imagine what Harry had to pull to destroy all that, and I feel that I should also tell you that Harry was able to infiltrate Voldemort's mind, inspect all his memories and found all the plans he had made before being caught, which was caused by one plan Voldemort has made for Miss Weasley."

Severus scowled. "I had heard some rumours about a plan he had for Miss Weasley, too, after Lucius presented the diary to the Dark Lord. I did not report those since I thought it was just some gossip Lucius had fed a few of the lower Death Eaters, but if it is his plan about having an heir…"

"It was."

"Then I sincerely hope Potter kills the Dark Lord. Miss Weasley has way too much potential just to be wasted in that way."

"Indeed. So, how much time do you think will pass until Voldemort completely recovers from that ordeal?"

"With that level of destruction, even with the power he has, I wouldn't give him less than a week before he is able to rebuild enough to wake up from his coma. From there, it would be a matter of if he searches for help or if he goes on his own, but before three weeks he would be back."

"Thank Merlin for the small favours in life," Dumbledore said, smiling.

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Halloween passed and went without anything of importance happening that day. Dumbledore had told Harry what had happened to Professor Snape, and he relayed it to the others that Voldemort would more than likely be out of business for three weeks, but that it wasn't an excuse to stop their training, so they kept practising all the magic they could reach.

The eight teenagers had started to make contact through their own Mind Hub, which was the name Hermione had found in the book for the mental communication the Founders had passed onto them. They were able to send some thoughts if they concentrated a lot, and a few ideas were exchanged between the group. For some reason, each person had the best communication with their respective couple: Harry and Ginny, Ron and Hermione, Neville and Luna, and Draco and Susan.

The latter two had admitted to their friends that they had been seeing each other since two weeks after the Weasley Family Prank, and they had gone together to Hogsmeade on a date. Harry was glad that Draco had someone important out of Slytherin: he remembered that Parkinson was still behind his heels, and she certainly was in league with Voldemort. If Draco had started to go out with a Slytherin that was against Voldemort (Daphne Greengrass, for example) she would have certainly done "something" that could have been potentially lethal for her. Fortunately, her membership of the DA had helped her with her knowledge of Defence, and she could hold her own very well.

The first match of the Quidditch season, Gryffindor versus Slytherin, was to be played the Saturday of the week after Halloween, and it would be a big showdown of Slytherin's brute force against Gryffindor's fast playing. Harry had heard that the replacement for Draco was a third year called Malcolm Baddock, whom he remembered to have seen in the Sorting of the Triwizard Tournament year. From what he had been told by Blaise Zabini (who had spied the Slytherin tryouts on his own volition) Braddock had been chosen because he was the only one in the group that could turn the broom on one hand and was small enough to go easily against the wind, but he would have to work hard just to stay on the same level as Harry, who was by far the best Seeker at the school, and probably one of the best in the world, in par with Viktor Krum and Josef Wronski, inventor of the dangerous Wronski Feint.

Harry knew that the match would show that Gryffindor's Quidditch Team was the best team in the whole school, and that Slytherin would rue the day they decided to kick Draco out of the team (well, they had also decided to _admit_ Draco on the team, which hadn't been a good idea, but it was the principle of the idea).

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There it is! Chapter 19! And I have to tell you that it has been difficult to write everything for this!

Obviously, the Muggle Harry mentions as having a symbol as his name is Prince, formerly known as the "Artist Formerly Known As Prince".

The Mind Hub is a concept I invented (I believe: maybe someone used this before). It's not a physical object, as it may sound, but rather an abstraction of the ability the Founders (and now Harry and the others) have that allow them to communicate mentally with each other. The Founders do not make use of the ability to reach the others' memories because: a) They already know the important things that happened to each other; and b) They are polite enough so as not to take a peek to search for the most private memories.

The title of the book roughly translates as _Communication Between Minds_. Of course, I'm sure that it'll be grammatically incorrect, due to the fact that I've never studied Latin or any ancient Language (Spanish is my maternal language, I've studied English for a lot of time, throw in there some conversational French and a few words in Italian and German, and you know my knowledge of foreign languages).


	20. I Asked You Before Anybody Else Could

Chapter 20

I Asked You Before Anybody Else Could

The morning of the Gryffindor-Slytherin match dawned sunny and cool. _Perfect conditions for the game_, Harry mused while drinking pumpkin juice. All the new players of the team were hardly eating anything due to pre-game nerves. Ron wasn't helping a lot with his playing with food in spite of Hermione trying to get him to eat. The only ones that were eating something were Katie, Harry and Ginny, the ones (apart from Ron) that had any real experience in a match.

"Colin, please eat something!" Ginny said. "You'll need a lot of energy if you want to keep up with those brutes of Crabbe and Goyle! They will certainly not stop at anything to harm any of us!"

Colin was about to retort, but Demelza Robbins, who was sitting down next to him, took advantage of it and stuffed a pancake on his wide open mouth, which she closed right after that.

"Just eat or I'll force-feed you, you great lump! And I've given Emma similar instructions to do the same with Dennis!" Demelza said.

Harry snorted with the treatment the Creeveys were getting from their female friends, and even more when Hermione decided to follow their example and stuffed Ron's mouth with rambled eggs and informed him that if he hadn't eaten enough food in twenty minutes she would tie him down to a chair and give him food like a small child. That worked wonders on him, and by the time all the players had to leave for the pitch, they were well fed and prepared for the match.

Both Ron and Harry were a bit nervous, though, because this was their first match as co-captains of the team, and they obviously didn't want to lose.

"You seven stay in the first row," Harry told the reserves, "with your gear on or near you. That way, if we need to make a change of player, you will be able to make it faster to the pitch."

"OK, captain!" Neville said with his Beater bat on the side.

"You three," Ron said, looking at the three Chasers, "can fly rings around Slytherin chasers. The one or two that were half good in the past have graduated, and the substitutes were only chosen for bulk and not ability. Just be careful if you go near them, they might decide to risk a penalty by going after you."

"And remember to use all those tricks Dean taught you," Harry reminded them. "It will utterly confuse the lot of them to see Muggle sport tricks into your plays."

After a few practices, Dean had told Harry and Ron about a few ideas he had for the Chasers' plays, all of them related to Muggle sports. Ron was at first a bit sceptical about it, but when Dean scored three goals on him by using those tricks, Ron told him to teach it to all the Chasers, so that they could do to the other Keepers what had been done to him.

"Well, the only thing that rests is… Harry, please catch that Snitch before Braddock does," Ron said.

"Don't let any goals in and we're even," Harry replied with a smile.

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"GOOD MORNING, HOGWARTS!" Justin shouted through the magical microphone. "This is Justin Finch-Fletchley, commenting the first match of Hogwarts School Inter-House Quidditch Tournament, GRYFFINDOR VERSUS SLYTHERIN!" Many cheers broke out among the student body.

Harry laughed under his breath: it was obvious that Justin had been training the whole summer just for something like this. He must have trained at his house, since he sounded like a Muggle sports announcer would do if ever faced with the fast-paced sport that was Quidditch.

"On one side we have, wearing red and golden robes, the current holders of the Quidditch Cup, the GRYFFINDOR LIONS!" Everyone cheered, save for the Slytherin sector who booed at them. "And on the other side, with green and silver robes, the SLYTHERIN SNAKES!" The situation was reversed this time, with three quarters on the stands booing while the other quarter cheered.

"And here they are! The Slytherin team, commanded by Captain and Chaser Urquhart, followed by Chasers Nott and Vaisey, Keeper Harper, Beaters Crabbe and Goyle and Seeker Baddock!" Seven green-robed people entered the pitch flying on their brooms, but obviously they didn't have much ability to fly on them, since they stumbled while they were in the air. That impression was augmented when you took into account that the whole team, save the Seeker, were huge.

"And now, please offer a standing ovation for the current champions, Gryffindor team, commanded by co-captains Keeper Ron Weasley and Seeker Harry Potter, followed by Chasers Ginny Weasley, Katie Bell and Dean Thomas and Beaters Colin and Dennis Creevey! Maybe we will see some great plays from the Creevey brothers, just like we did with the Weasley twins!"

"Right you are there, Justin," Harry muttered under his breath while he flew towards the middle of the pitch, where the Slytherins were waiting for them. While Madam Hooch gave them the usual advices of playing a fair game (and the Slytherins followed the usual practice of ignoring her) Harry shook Urquhart's hand. The latter tried to crush the bones in Harry's hand, but the latter's grip was stronger, and so the Slytherin ended with a sore hand.

"The players jump onto their brooms, Madam Hooch releases the Bludgers and the Snitch… AND THEY ARE OFF! Bell takes the ball and soars through the air towards the Slytherin goal post!"

Katie flew towards Harper, who was nervously waiting for her while Crabbe and Goyle threw the Bludgers towards her. However, the Chaser managed to do a roll to avoid the iron balls and, in the process, passed the ball to Dean, who was to her left, and who neared the posts before faking when extending his arm and passing to Ginny, who scored easily.

"First goal of the season by Ginny Weasley! Ten-nil to Gryffindor!" Justin exclaimed.

Gryffindors cheered all through the stands while Harry smiled. That trick had taken them ten tries to each of the Chasers to make it correctly. Even Dean had needed to practice it, since the non-spherical form of the ball did make it harder to do the faux-shoot while twisting your wrist, but in the end he had managed to do it.

The next thirty minutes were an absolute – metaphorical – massacre of the Slytherin team. The score by then was 120-10 for Gryffindor. The lonely goal on Slytherin's side had been scored only because Crabbe and Goyle had thrown both Bludgers at Ron in the same moment as Nott had approached Gryffindor's goals, and Ron had to avoid them if he didn't wish a long stay at the Hospital Wing. However, he made up for that with a good couple of amazing saves, one of them with his leg when he couldn't reach it with his arms.

"And there goes Thomas with the Quaffle! He swerves to avoid a Bludger, now he evades Urquhart… but he isn't going towards the goals!"

Harry looked to Ginny, who was flying towards the goals from the centre of the pitch, and grimaced. They had practiced that football move many times in the last weeks, but they had only gotten it right two days before, and they hadn't been able to practice it any more. Harry hoped that she managed to do it right and that she ended on the broom after the jump she was about to do.

"And Thomas throws it towards Weasley… but it's too high for her! He must have missed where she was!"

But he hadn't: in the few seconds before the ball reached her, she jumped, stood on her broom, and jumped in the air.

"OH MY GOD! WHAT IS SHE DOING?"

Ginny kicked the ball while doing a perfect backwards somersault after which she ended over her broom. Harry whispered in relief while the red ball entered the centre hoop under the amazed look of the Slytherin Keeper, who didn't see the goal.

"GINNY WEASLEY MANAGED TO DO A PERFECT OVERHEAD KICK AT FIFTY FEET OF HEIGHT AND MANAGING TO LAND OVER HER BROOM! FANTASTIC! AMAZING! ASTONISHING! FABULOUS! IMPRESSIVE! STRIKING! BEST MOVE I'VE EVER SEEN IN A QUIDDITCH MATCH!"

Just then, Harry saw a gold glint through the corner of his eye. Without waiting to see anything else, Harry threw himself towards it.

"ATTENTION! POTTER HAS JUST SEEN THE SNITCH!"

Harry, focused as he was, didn't hear what Justin had said, but he did hear the Bludger that had been sent towards him, which he avoided swiftly with a Sloth Grip Roll. Next thing he noticed was that the opponent Seeker was following him, but Harry knew that he wouldn't reach him: the Firebolt was still the fastest broom in the market, and Braddock didn't have one with him, so the latter would need much luck to catch Harry, and much more luck to catch the Snitch.

The golden winged ball went down, towards the ground, and Harry followed suit. Braddock tried to take a shortcut, but he only was able to gain a few inches, which wasn't enough for him to be able to reach the Snitch. Harry was getting nearer, though, and his arm was reaching the ball, inch by inch, until it reached the ground, when the Snitch suddenly turned directions, but Harry wouldn't be scared by something as simple as that. He just levelled his broom and…

"HARRY POTTER HAS JUMPED FROM THE BROOM… AND CATCHES THE SNITCH! HARRY POTTER HAS DONE AN AMAZING CATCH OF THE SNITCH IN A FABULOUS JUMP AFTER WHICH HE LANDS ON THE GROUND WITHOUT A SCRATCH! GRYFFIDOR HAS FINALLY WON THE MATCH, 290 TO 10, WITH A LAST GOAL MADE BY DEAN THOMAS SECONDS BEFORE OF THE CATCH! AND GRYFFINDOR MAKES A GOOD FIRST MATCH FOR WINNING THE HOGWARTS QUIDDITCH CUP FOR THE THIRD TIME IN A ROW!"

While Justin proclaimed the success of Harry's and Ron's first match as co-captains, the Gryffindor Team landed next to their Seeker and made a group hug to celebrate their victory before going to the lockers to change into their normal robes.

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The party was of big proportions, as it was usual whenever Gryffindor Team won at Quidditch. Of course, it lacked the incredibly boisterous presence of the Weasley Twins, but the younger Weasleys surely made up for that with a great set of WWW best fireworks, which lit up the whole common room in bright red and gold lights.

Currently, Harry was sitting down in a couch, a Butterbeer on his left hand, and hearing to Ginny as she talked with one of her friends about that difficult and dangerous move she had pulled up to score the thirteenth goal. She explained the few things she knew about football (with the occasional help from Harry) and pointed at Dean when they asked how she had gotten the idea to do that. While the star-stricken girls went to Dean (who was currently being hugged and kissed by Parvati) Harry snuggled his nose into Ginny's neck and kissed it, causing her to tremble in excitement.

"You were amazing out there, Gin," Harry whispered on her ear.

"As were you, Harry," Ginny replied with a smile. Then, she sat on his lap and started to toy with the uniform necktie Harry was wearing, although looser than usual. "I think that we could find… some time to… have a private celebration… at our room… in the Founders' Lair," she said, rolling the tie with her right hand while her left hand softly caressed the back of the head, something that Harry really liked a lot.

"Milady, I am completely at your service," Harry replied with a smile. Both of them stood up, and, inconspicuously, turned to the fireplace, where Harry muttered the password and entered the Founders' Lair without anybody noticing.

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During the next weeks, everybody at school was very nervous, due to the shape of things that had been going on outside of Hogwarts during that time. Voldemort had obviously been enraged by Harry's attack on his mind, and he directed many attacks against both the magical and the Muggle world. Some of them ended with deaths, but the most of them were avoided thanks to Snape's warnings, as well as the occasional snooping from Harry (with far less destructive ends than his first one, but no less informative), which helped to stop them, and in a few instances some Death Eaters were captured.

In one of their meetings, Dumbledore told Harry that the appearance of foreign Death Eaters was more common, especially when you took into account that ninety percent of the British DEs had been caught and imprisoned since June: obviously, Voldemort was running low on recruits, and had been looking for them out of the country.

The last Saturday in November, Harry managed to turn himself into a badger for the first time. The young wizard felt great inside the new form, which he took many times during the day so that he could get used to it.

The next day, during dinnertime, Dumbledore made an announcement that would mark the lives of the Hogwarts students. At least, it would do it for the next month, because the event Dumbledore talked about would happen approximately in thirty days counting from then…

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"If I may have your attention, please?" Dumbledore said, standing up. Harry and Ron had been chattering about some new plays they were going to try at their next practice, Hermione was discussing with Neville about the uses of certain plants in potions, and Ginny had been talking with some of her friends about the last issue of _Witch Weekly_ when Dumbledore started talking.

Soon, the whole Hall fell silent, awaiting the announcement that Dumbledore seemed to be bursting to tell – Harry could see it in the broad smile that he normally associated to Dumbledore's best mood.

"It has come to my attention that many people in here have been asking, a few of them silently, a few more in a more vocal way, about a certain event that was held a few years ago within the premises of this school. Both the Board of Governors and the faculty believe that it might be an excellent idea to revive it for the sake of the students in order to give you a temporal distraction from events outside of the school.

"On those grounds, the school has decided to hold a Yule Ball."

Immediately, excited whispers – among the girls – and half-concealed groans – between the boys – broke out, with Dumbledore contemplating the effect his words were having between the students. After a minute, he held his hand out to tell them to shut up for a few more seconds.

"The Ball will be held the night before the Hogwarts Express departs from Hogsmeade station; only fourth-years and above will be able to attend the ball freely. Third-years may attend if they are invited by someone who can, and first- and second-years will stay in their common rooms, where entertainment will be found for them."

"I also wish to tell you that Professors McGonagall and Snape will hold a workshop for those who desire to learn the intricacies of dancing with a partner."

Harry, who was in that moment dividing himself between joy at the possibility of dancing with Ginny and the fact that he would have to learn to do it with the most stern professors in the school, didn't notice the luscious looks many girls gave him, but Ginny saw them, and looked at all the girls with a hateful glare that would have made Voldemort tremble on his knees.

However, Ron smiled deeply when he heard it, and the second after Dumbledore finished talking he launched himself over Hermione and asked without dilation: "Hermione, will you go with me to the Yule Ball?"

The question surprised the girl, but she should have waited for it: after all, she had dared him to ask her before anybody else after the Yule Ball during their fourth year, and, obviously, he didn't wish that anyone could take the lead over him.

Hermione grinned and kissed Ron hard on the lips, happiness practically pouring from her pores.

"I think she really wants to go with him, then," Neville said, who then started to look for someone in the Ravenclaw table.

Harry then turned to Ginny and smiled at her.

"Would you like to go with me to the Yule Ball, Gin?"

Ginny decided then to take a leaf out of Hermione's book and snogged Harry, a gesture that angered many girls in the Great Hall, but none more than the seventh year raven-haired Asian girl that was sitting down in the Ravenclaw table, just a few seats away from Luna, who was looking back at Neville.

_How dare that trollop kiss _my_ Harry Potter?_ She was thinking, furiously. _He was mine before she ever had her eyes on him! Well, she had a silly girl-crush on him before, but he looked at me BEFORE he ever noticed her! I'm sure she just hooked him this summer and then she opened his legs for him, so that she could have access to his money! Maybe I'll be able to snag him for the Ball, and he'll leave Weasley for me. I doubt he would ask her soon even if he really liked her; it took him forever to ask me to the Yule Ball two years ago._ She then sighed. She missed Cedric a lot. He had been a very good boyfriend, even with them being in two different houses, their being in different years and with Cedric under the pressure of his last year at Hogwarts and the Triwizard Tournament.

She knew that the year before she had been a bit too short with Harry. She shouldn't have had to ask so many things about Cedric, and she should have realised that he wasn't really interested in Granger, but both Harry's unwillingness to share anything about Cedric and the jealousy had been stronger than her, and later in the year they had discussed about Marietta's betrayal to the DA. She had tried to make him understand the pressure she had been under, with her mother working at the Ministry and watching over the Floo Network, but Harry was too stubborn about it, and he even defended Granger about the charm she had put on the parchment they had signed.

She had hoped that, after Marietta apologized, he would fly back to her, especially after telling him she had left Michael Corner, but he had just dismissed the information and had somehow gone back to the Weasley slut (she didn't even know how he had managed to escape from her grip in the train).

_I'll catch him tomorrow in the evening. He's mine, Weasley, and you'll have to stay back!_

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The next day, when they arrived to the Great Hall to have lunch after the DA classes, Harry was completely fed up with nearly all the fairer sex at Hogwarts. He had been asked out by fifty girls already (some of them had tried to do it twice, and he could bet that one of them had done it at least _four times_!). He could recognise many of them from the groupies (as Ron called them between snorts) that followed him everywhere, and obviously they were taking turns to try to snag him out of Ginny's reach now that she wasn't in the point of view.

"Do you think I should start to wear a sign saying 'I AM TAKEN'?" Harry asked Ron, desperate about the problem.

"Might as well do it, mate," Ron replied. "I've been asked my fair share of girls, believe me. Ten, so far, but I think nothing beats your record. At this rhythm, all the available girls in Hogwarts will have asked you in less than a week."

Harry passed his hand over his hair. He had done it so many times through the day that it was starting to stick out.

"Hi, Harry," a girl voice Harry didn't recognise said.

"Name, year and house?" Harry said without turning around.

"Elizabeth Barnett, fifth year, Slytherin."

"Well, I'm sorry, Elizabeth, but I won't go with you to the Yule Ball. And, if any of your friends plans to ask me, PLEASE tell them I have already chosen someone, so do not waste your energies in a useless effort. Thanks, and go away!"

The girl sighed in defeat and went back to her table, where her friends accosted her with questions.

"I'm starting to get a bit angry with those girls. When will they catch that I am not going with any of them?" Harry mumbled, playing with his food.

"It'll have to be something grand, I have to tell you," Ron said, "because your groupies…"

"They are not MY groupies," Harry said.

"Your groupies," Ron insisted, "are as hard in the brain as a troll. It'll have to be something so obvious that even Crabbe and Goyle would get it."

"Something obvious, huh?" Harry said. A plan started to form in his mind, reminiscent of a failed prank Sirius had told him about, which involved the roof of the Great Hall and a few well placed spells that would write something particularly embarrassing for Snape. They had been caught with the hands in the cookie jar by Professor Flitwick, who docked them thirty points and gave them a week of punishment with Filch, although he restored the points when they explained him all the research they had done for it.

"Hi, Harry," Ginny then said, hugging Harry from his back.

"Hi, gorgeous," Harry replied, twisting himself so that he could kiss her, while Ron did the same with Hermione. "Where were you? I've missed you a lot this morning."

"Doing some research for the DA. And what happened that has you so nervous?"

"Poor guy is just fed-up with the fact that he is too attractive to girls throughout the school. Maybe our brothers overdid it a bit with the prank; it fried all those girls' brains when Harry appeared half-naked in front of them," Ron said.

"Fifty-one, Ginny. In the last four hours, I've been asked out by fifty-one different girls, and some of them have tried more than once! I've told them that I'm going with someone else, but will they stop? NO! They just keep going, harassing me the whole time. And I'm surprised that Cho Chang hasn't tried to ask me yet."

"Then I'll have to stay with you all the time, won't I, mister?" Ginny replied with a rogue tone that Harry loved.

"Might get a bit tricky when I go to the bathroom," Harry replied with the same tone.

Ginny giggled a lot. "Anyway, I'm not letting any witch catch you alone and try to snag you!"

"Well, I have a plan for this evening that I hope will work. I may need your help with it, but I can assure you that all Hogwarts will know who I am going with to the Yule Ball."

"Oooh," Hermione said. "Tell, Harry, tell."

"Wow, Hermione, you really impress me. Are you so willing to break the rules?"

Hermione blushed slightly.

"Ron, we have been a _very_ bad influence on her. In our first year, this kind of thing would have completely appalled her!" Harry said, laughing.

"That's my 'Mione for you, mate," Ron replied, and then he kissed his girlfriend. "Would you terribly mind if you included me into that plan? There are a couple of girls that didn't leave me alone this morning, and honestly, I'd like to cut that problem off."

"WHAT?" Hermione half-shouted. "Who dared to snag you for the Ball?"

"What's-her-name MacDougal, Ravenclaw, fourth year. She caught me on the way down from the Common Room, while Harry was being assaulted by five girls at the same time."

"What's the plan, Harry? And I hope it is a good one. I have plenty of ideas for those girls. I hope you remember who they were!" Ginny said with a dangerous glint on her eye.

Harry nodded glumly, and started to recount his plans to the other three in the group.

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"Hi, Harry," Cho Chang said with a bright smile and a theatrical sigh.

Harry sighed, but his sigh was not theatrical at all. He was at the library, searching for a few books that could help his research about Human-to-Animal Transfiguration for an essay. Ha had also been waiting for Cho's attack… er… _approximation_ since the Yule Ball had been announced, but it didn't make it more welcomed.

"Hi, Cho," Harry said in a slightly bored tone.

"How's your day going on? I hope you are having some good time this term."

"Oh, yeah, it's been great," Harry said, telling himself that she wasn't doing a good work with trying to flirt with him. "Ginny is being a wonderful girlfriend, and we are having a lot of fun."

"Oh," Cho said, her smile faltering a bit. "Well, that was something I wanted to talk about with you. Are you sure that Weasley is the… right girl for you?"

Harry had to stop himself from rolling his eyes: she was being far too obvious. "Let me guess: you think that I should break up with her because she is, quoting you, 'a little girl', and you also believe that you could give me much more than what she is able to, and you want me to go with you to the Yule Ball. Am I mistaken?"

Cho smiled again. "Of course! It's incredible how well we understand each other!"

"One hundred and fifty-five," Harry replied.

"Pardon?"

"It's the number of girls that have asked me out so far to the Yule Ball, and I've rejected all of them."

"Oh, poor Ginny Weasley. I'm sure she was looking forward to go with you to the Ball, but well, she couldn't hope to!" she said, trying to take Harry from the arm, but Harry disengaged himself fast from her.

"Well, it would be rather difficult for me to reject her invitation, especially when it was me the one who invited her," Harry said, trying to reach a book from one of the upper shelves.

Cho seemed to be stricken for a few seconds, but then she laughed quietly. "Oh, Harry, you nearly had me with that one! I'm sure that you'll love the dance. It'll be wonderful! I'll wear my red dress. We'll have to make sure that your robe goes well with my clothes. We could go to Gladrags next Hogsmeade weekend…"

"Er, Cho, I was talking in serious. I'm really going with Ginny to the Yule Ball. I'm not sure if you have gotten it, but I don't have any plans to go with you."

Cho's face changed again, but fortunately for Harry, before she could utter a word, Hermione appeared from behind one of the stacks.

"Harry, what's…" she said, stopping when she saw the situation.

"Nah, just having a little chat here with Cho," Harry said, alleviated that his friend had appeared in that moment. "And I've just found the book," Harry said, showing the book he had been looking for. "It's been nice to talk with you," he then told the Asian-looking girl in a slightly sarcastic tone, and nearly ran away from her.

"What was happening there, Harry?" Hermione said, worried.

"Thank you, 'Mione. It was just Cho and her psychotic dreams about me loving her. She thought I was joking when I told her I was going with Ginny, and she was already planning what we were supposedly going to do for the future! I don't know why she keeps thinking I like her: I just hope that she stops it before she tries to do something rash!"

"What kind of rash? Are you suggesting that she may actually _try_ to harm Ginny?"

"Yes._Try_ being the operative word here. I'd fear more about what Ginny would do to her than what she would do to Ginny, but I'd rather not take any chances when it comes to her and any possible threat to her."

"I've seen Cho at the DA, and Ginny could mop the floor with her with her left hand and blindfolded," Hermione replied in a hushed tone as they neared the table they were sharing with Ron.

"What took you so much time?" the red-haired wizard asked.

"Tell you later, mate. We should finish all our homework first," Harry replied to his friend, and opened the book by the first page.

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Everybody was currently having dinner at the Great Hall when suddenly every light turned out, save for one or two candles around the room that kept the place in a dim light.

Harry smirked. They had been working tirelessly for hours to manage to do this prank. He had written down who the 170 girls that had asked him out to the Yule Ball were, and they were in for a hell of a surprise, as well as the twenty that had tried to do the same with Ron.

Green lightning then struck in the middle of the Hall, making many people scream. The roof then lighted in green fire letters that were forming sentences in the air.

_MANY GIRLS HAVE ASKED ME, HARRY POTTER, TO THE YULE BALL. I HAVE REJECTED THEM ALL, AND IN SPITE OF MY ASKING TO RELAY THE NEWS THAT I AM TAKEN, THEY KEEP ASKING ME. _

_EXACTLY ONE-HUNDRED AND SEVENTY GIRLS HAVE BEEN STUPID ENOUGH TO BELIEVE THAT I WOULD WISH TO GO WITH THEM. I'M NOT SAYING YOU ARE NOT INTELLIGENT, ONLY THAT IT WAS STUPID OF YOU TO BELIEVE THAT I WOULD GO WITH YOU. _

_HOWEVER, I WON'T BE GOING ALONE TO THE YULE BALL, BECAUSE HARDLY ONE MINUTE AFTER THE ANNOUNCEMNT WAS MADE, I ASKED MY GIRLFRIEND GINNY WEASLEY TO GO WITH ME TO THE YULE BALL AND SHE ACCEPTED. _

_ALSO, MANY GIRLS HAVE ASKED MY BEST FRIEND, RONALD WEASLEY, TO GO WITH THEM TO THE BALL. IT HAD ONLY TAKEN HIM FIVE SECONDS TO ASK HERMIONE GRANGER, SO IT WAS STUPID OF YOU TO TRY THAT, TOO. _

_BOTH OF US HOPE THAT THESE ATTEMPTS WILL STOP SOON. ANYONE WHO IS A MEMBER OF THE DA AND TRIES TO DO IT WILL BE EXPELLED FROM THE GROUP AND WILL ONLY RETURN TO IT IF THEY SWEAR ON THEIR MAGIC NOT TO TRY AGAIN. _

_WE DON'T REALLY CARE IF YOU FAWN A BIT ON US, ALTHOUGH WE WOULD PREFER THAT YOU DIDN'T DO THAT, ESPECIALLY SINCE THERE ARE MANY BOYS AT THIS GREAT SCHOOL THAT MAY WISH TO GO OUT WITH YOU. _

_NOW, AS A LITTLE REMAINDER OF WHAT MAY HAPPEN WHEN YOU GET REPETITIVE, BE LIGHT MADE! _

And light was made.

And the Hall stood completely silent.

Because some strange black discs had appeared on the heads of many girls in the Hall. The discs had some scratches and seemed to be slightly broken. All the Muggle-borns, some of the half-bloods and even one or two purebloods that had obviously had some kind of contact with the world of LPs and vinyl discs understood the joke and started to chuckle at the implied word game.

But that was not everything that Harry and the others had managed to do in the few hours they had been working for the prank. Cho Chang was the first to discover it when she started to talk.

"Harry, why are you saying that?" It was clear that she was going to keep talking, but then a scratching sound was heard from her and she repeated "Harry, why are you saying that?"

Pandemonium was unleashed. All the boys and the girls that had not been affected by the prank started to laugh, and all the pranked girls started to repeat the first thing they had said after the lights were back.

Among the professors, the situation was a bit more doused: both Snape's and McGonagall's anger expressions were betrayed by the fact that the corners of their mouths were twitching upwards; Flitwick had disappeared from the table and Harry could bet that he was rolling on the floor, laughing; Sprout, Hagrid, Martin and Moody were laughing openly; Narcissa was smiling, and Dumbledore's eye twinkling was reaching never-seen levels.

The pranked girls ran away from the Hall, repeating the same sentence once every few seconds and blushing madly from the sudden attention they were receiving from all the students, who were still laughing at them.

When the girls left and everything returned to a dull roar (with everybody talking about the same) Professor McGonagall stood up and went to the Gryffindor table, where some people were congratulating Harry on his very well pulled-off prank.

"Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, a word if I may?" she asked.

Ron looked at Harry, who gave him a look that clearly said, _Come on, we put our names up there, OF COURSE they know it was us!_

"Yes, Professor," Harry said.

"Please, come with me," she replied in her almost nonsensical tone, although Harry could see that McGonagall was doing her best efforts not to keep smiling about the prank. Harry pointed it to Ron via Mindspeech and he relaxed somewhat after seeing that they would not get in – _much_ – trouble.

Professor McGonagall directed the two teenagers into the trophy room in which Harry had been sent to right after being chosen as the fourth champion of the Triwizard Tournament. Harry didn't let the nerves take him and followed Ron and the professor to the room where the other Heads of House and the Headmaster were already waiting.

"Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, please, sit down," Dumbledore said, pointing to the two chairs that were currently unoccupied. The two teenagers sat down, facing the Professors who were showing varying signs of mirth and a bit of anger, but not too much.

"Would you mind to explain us why you decided to disrupt tonight's dinner with such a… _outrageous_ prank?" Snape asked with a sneer on his face, although not as intense as normal.

"You have read what it said there, no?" The professors nodded. "Then you know most about it. We were being harassed by many girls who wished to go with us to the Yule Ball. As we felt that they didn't get the message, we thought that something at a big scale should be done to tell them what both of us felt, but we had to do it in a non-harmful way."

"And those… discs over the girls' heads?" Professor Flitwick asked.

"Well, Muggles have this set phrase, 'You are like a broken record', that they apply to people who keep saying practically the same thing for a long time. Since they were asking more than once the same question in spite of us asking them to relay the news, we thought it might be fitting to make them repeat themselves so that they catch the idea."

"And you did this in the span of less than twelve hours?" McGonagall said, then.

"Less than that, actually," Ron admitted. "We started to think on it by lunchtime, because by then we felt completely fed up. With the help of our girlfriends, who weren't very keen on the fact that our persons were being assaulted, we made some research and a few special tricks and… you have seen the result."

"Don't worry much about the girls," Harry piped on. "The charm will only last for a couple of hours, so they won't be kept awake by it."

Just then someone knocked. Moody opened the door to the Trophy Room and directed his face to Dumbledore.

"Albus, I've sent everybody back to their rooms. Felt they weren't going to do many things while you stayed in here. Poppy has been taking all her supplies of Draught of Peace out of the cupboard to calm the girls, although we haven't been able to stop that prank. Good one, Potter, Weasley, too," Moody said with humour. "Aurora, Jonathan and Narcissa have gone to Ravenclaw's, Gryffindor's and Slytherin's common rooms to deal with the girls, and I'll take care of those in Hufflepuff."

"Please, Alastor, tell them that the charm will wear out in just a few hours with no lasting harm done to them," Albus told the ex-Auror.

"Will do, Albus," Moody answered and closed the door. The room fell into silence until Snape talked.

"Professor Dumbledore," he said, "we still have to consider the issue of the points that must be taken from Potter and Weasley for their disruption of tonight's dinner."

"True, Severus," Dumbledore said with a grave voice. "I think that ten points for each Mr. Potter, Mr. and Miss Weasley and Miss Granger and one detention would suffice, don't you believe?"

"More than enough, I think," McGonagall replied. "However, I think that the fact that the four of them were able to research such a complicated charm in just a few hours and were also able to cast it without any problem at the first time should be well rewarded, no?"

"Perhaps, Minerva, perhaps," Dumbledore replied with a smile. "I think that each of them should be given twenty points for their wonderful magical and research abilities."

Snape seemed stricken as well, but since it was the Headmaster's decision, he could do nothing about it.

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I'm very, VERY SORRY for the HUGE delay since the last update I made! I had many things between my hands, not the least of them my studies at the University and many other things that didn't let me keep working on this fic.

I don't need more songs anymore, because I have chosen all those that I need: one for Harry and Ginny, one for Ron and Hermione, one for Neville and Luna, one for Draco and Susan, one for Cho Chang and one for Dumbledore. If you think that anybody else could get their own song, please tell me!

Next chapter will be about the Yule Ball. It doesn't have a title yet, but I'll try to find a good one as soon as possible. Of course, the songs will be "heard" by the Hogwarts students, and there may be a few songs in other languages! (Of course, if you know any good songs in languages other than English and Spanish J, please send me a message!)


	21. Dancing with Witches

Chapter 21  
Dancing with Witches

Harry's nerves grew more and more as Christmas grew nearer. He was nervous not only for the war effort (which, although successful for them, was still very stressful for everyone involved) but also for the Ball to be held. He had been practising his dancing for the last month since the ball had been announced under the tutelage of Professors McGonagall and Snape – it still make him tremble to see both of them dancing in the Great Hall, showing the different styles of dancing. Of course, practicing with Ginny always made it nice, but still…

Thanks to the Broken-Records-Prank, girls had stopped accosting Harry and Ron – even Cho had desisted – although now they had decided Draco and – to the surprise of everyone, even himself – Neville were better preys to go after, but since they had invited Susan and Luna, the girls found themselves without a boy to hound, so they decided in droves to just go with the first boy who asked them. This wasn't very bad; many future good relationships would flourish during this Yule Ball.

Like before the Yule Ball two years before, many rumours were being heard throughout the school: the one about Dumbledore buying more than eight hundred barrels of hydromel sounded as outrageous as before, and it seemed that the rumour of the Weird Sisters coming back would not come true this time. However, it seemed that a new group called Black Hawks had been hired to sing at the Ball. Harry wasn't the only one who hadn't heard of them, but apparently both Lavender and Parvati had heard of them, and had told everybody who wanted to know – and who didn't want to know, too – that it consisted of six men and women, all of different nationalities, and thanks to that they were able to sing in many languages, which had made them moderately popular among many teenagers in the world.

One of the main worries of Harry was if Voldemort would do something during the holidays, as it would be something he was very likely to do. However, Minister Bones had promised that the Auror Corps would be watchful during Christmas, and they had secretly sent both Portkeys to every magical house in Great Britain, with the objective of both saving the families and alerting the Ministry of an attack by Death Eaters, providing Aurors with a better and faster way to detect the attacks on the wizard population. Detection among Muggle population would be far more difficult, but the methods that had helped to detect magic in the Muggle world would be improved as best as possible.

Of course, that didn't mean that things at Hogwarts weren't shaken: the last day before the autumn term ended all those in fourth year and up were preparing themselves for the Ball. Harry, who was wearing a shiny black robe with silver lining that Sirius had sent him, was eagerly waiting at the bottom of the stairs in the Common Room, next to Ron who was wearing a maroon robe – Harry had laughed at him, remembering maroon was the colour he hated the most – and waiting for Hermione. Neville had been gone for a few minutes to wait for Luna at the door of the Great Hall, and nearly all Gryffindors were following Harry's and Ron's example, since they had asked Gryffindor girls to the Ball, while a minority, mostly placed in the upper years, had asked or been asked by people from the other houses: the boys had gone downstairs and the girls were still in their dorms, preparing themselves and using their make-up.

One by one, the girls came downstairs, causing many gasps among the boys and making their couples drool with satisfaction. Harry and Ron chuckled at their reactions, but little did they figure that their own reaction would be even worse than theirs.

The first to come downstairs was Hermione, and her beauty was really amazing. She was wearing a pale pink strapless long dress that shone pristinely under the light of the candles and contrasted beautifully with her slightly tanned skin. She was wearing a small sapphire – her birthstone - pendant her parents had given her on her seventeenth birthday, the one that marked his passage into Wizarding adulthood, which slightly reflected the light in the room. Her normally brown curly hair had been smoothened out and arranged into a French bun like the one she wore at the Yule Ball of two years ago, but a bit more artistically done. To complete the wonderful image that she was presenting in front of Ron and the rest of the school, she was wearing two small earrings on her ears with two aquamarines on them.

Harry had smiled when he looked at one of his best friends and, upon looking at his other best friend, had started to laugh.

"Ron, close your mouth or you'll catch flies."

Ron, who had been in some sort of trance upon looking at his girlfriend, reacted by shaking his head and gazing admiringly at her.

"Wow. You look… amazing," he said, breathlessly, while going and gently taking her by the hand before kissing her on the lips. Hermione's eyes shined when they separated.

"You aren't very bad, yourself," she teased him in a husky tone that made Ron tremble with pleasure. Then she looked at Harry and said, "You'd better watch your mouth, Harry, or you'll catch more than flies."

"Why?"

But then Ginny came downstairs and Harry forgot about his question, his friends and he even forgot what that thing in his forehead was. Ginny was wearing a long black dress with small straps that went round her shoulders, which matched with her milky white skin in a way that made Harry gulp. He didn't notice the peridots in both her ears and neck because his eyes became fixated on hers, which were glistering with happiness and love at the sight of the handsome wizard in front of her.

Seeing that Harry seemed to be spellstruck, Ginny decided to take matters in her own hands: she went over to Harry and, putting her arms around his neck, kissed him softly and lovingly.

"Well, Mr. Potter, do you have anything to say?" she whispered into his ear.

**I do have something to say, Miss Weasley**, Harry Mind-spoke to her, **but I'm sure anything that went out of my lips would create a lot of harm to my body, coming from your dear brother.**

**Oh, my, my,** Ginny Mind-replied, wiggling her eyebrows. **So, do you like this dress, Mr. Potter?**

**I'd rather see it in the floor of my bedroom,** Harry blurted without thinking. Then he blushed. **Sorry, Gin, I didn't mean it…**

**Maybe not tonight, but it is possible that you get what you want soon, Mr. Potter…**

Harry's eyes opened up a lot. "You little minx. Of course I like your dress, Ginny. It matches perfectly with my robe, and it suits you so well that I'll have to keep you by my side the whole night so that the bad boys out there don't get near you.

"Already looking forward to it," Ginny answered with a smile. "Shall we go down, then?" she asked Hermione and Ron.

"Oh, before I forget," Ron muttered. He took his wand out and, with a small flick, he conjured a red orchid which he put behind Hermione's ear. "That suits you really well, Hermione."

"Thank you, Ron," she replied with a smile and a faint blush.

Harry took his wand out and conjured a yellow orchid which he hooked on Ginny's left strap.

"I'm not about to be outdone by my friend, you know," he said cheekily. Ginny and Hermione laughed and grabbed their boyfriends' arms to go downstairs to the Great Hall.

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The Great Hall was, that night, as magnificent as the last time. Obviously, the Professors had been working overtime to put all the baubles, balls and candles on the twelve gigantic trees Hagrid had brought from the Forbidden Forest as he did every year, and candles illuminated the whole Hall. However, there was a huge change from the usual table disposition, which looked more like the one in the Yule Ball two years before, with small tables that held from ten to twelve people each; and, in the place that normally held the Professors' table, a stage had been placed which held many instruments of all kinds.

Harry looked around him and saw that many of the tables were already occupied. He also noticed that nearly all of them had mixes of people of each house – save for two tables in one corner, in which Nott, Parkinson and their Death Eater-wannabes clique were sitting down.

"Over here, guys!" Draco's voice was heard. Ron, the tallest of the four, craned his neck and directed his friends to the table that Draco and Susan had managed to secure for themselves and the rest of the group.

"Nice one, mate," Ron complimented. "Near the stage but not too much, and pretty at the side to watch the whole room."

"Had to come here before the doors opened, it was rather difficult to catch this place," Susan said with a smile.

The four Gryffindors sat down at the table and were soon joined by Neville and Luna, who had apparently gotten a bit riled up on the way down from Ravenclaw Tower – Neville's hair was very messy, and some faint traces of lipstick could be detected on his lips, while Luna's shiny dress was slightly disarranged and wrinkled in her back and shoulders.

The eight teenagers engaged in small conversation, waiting for the dinner to start, when two couples approached them.

"Hi, Harry. Mind if we join you?" Sirius said.

Harry jumped from the table to hug his godfather, whom he hadn't seen since the start of the year. "What are you doing here?" he asked him.

"Well, Dumbledore said that some help might be needed to contain you youngsters and your hormone-driven impulses," Sirius, who was accompanied by Hestia Jones, said with a wink. Harry reddened slightly, but didn't lose his smile.

"And I came just to control this hormone-driven mutt and keep him far away from the punch," Remus said, taking Tonks – who was currently sporting long brown hair and blue eyes – by the hand and sitting next to Neville.

"Yeah, well, like if you won't be hormone-driven by our dearest Nym…" Sirius replied with a laugh.

"Finish that sentence and you'll wish you never were born," Tonks said, interrupting Sirius.

"Never matter, we are here, and we want to have some good time with you," Sirius said.

"Yes? And how did you manage to hoodwink Miss Jones to come to this party? No girls your own age around to corrupt?" Ginny asked with a grin. Hestia laughed.

"It took him the best of two weeks after being told to come to the Yule Ball just to direct our conversations to it, and then other week to ask me. Although he was really sweet about it, with that huge bouquet of roses, and a big box of chocolates… of which he promptly ate four or five!"

"Hey, how was I to know that you didn't really like chocolate?" Sirius asked with surprise. "At least, I tried to be as nice as possible about it!"

Harry laughed at that, and then the lights in the Hall gradually turned down until the only place that was completely illuminated was the stage. Dumbledore entered the cone of light and was met with applauses from all the students.

"Thank you, thank you," Dumbledore said, wearing one of his deep purple robes and his star-glittered hat, and waited until the applause subsided. "I am very glad of hosting a Ball tonight at our Hogwarts. Many of you attended the last one, in which the Triwizard Tournament was celebrated and some of you stroke friendships with members of other schools that night. However, this night we are having a Hogwarts-only celebration, with the addition of some former alumni.

"The plan for tonight is having a first dance while the house-elves finish preparing the wonderful feast that awaits us, then having dinner and in the end the floor will be open to anyone who wishes to dance.

"And now, with no more preamble, let's give a warm welcome to the multinational group Black Hawks!" Dumbledore said, stepping down from the aisle, and the last light went out, leaving the Hall faintly lighted by the half-moon in the sky and the candles in the tables.

The students clapped soundly, and Harry, sharpening his hearing, was able to detect a few faint notes among the claps. Then, he stood up and whispered to Ginny: "Do you want to dance?" to which she replied by taking his hand and standing up.

_A baby's born in the middle of the night in a local delivery room  
They grab his feet smack him till cries he goes home the next afternoon  
Before you know he's off to school and he graduates in May  
Goes out and gets a Ph.D. and then cures all sorts of things  
Wins a Nobel Prize and saves a million different lives  
The world's a better place for all he's done  
It's funny when think about the reason he's alive  
Is all because two people fell in love._

Ron took Hermione by the hand then and followed his friend and sister, and everybody else did the same, entering the dance floor and swaying to the rhythm of music as the notes changed.

_Right now at a picnic shelter down by Canyon Creek  
You'll find potato salad, hot dogs and baked beans  
The whole Wilson family's lined up filling there paper plates  
They drove or flown in here from 15 different states  
Stanley Wilson said that sixty years ago he knew  
That Miss Sama Tucker was the one  
Now five generations get together every June  
And all because two people fell in love._

Harry looked on Ginny's eyes, and felt all the love she had for him pouring from her two brown shining eyes, and he reciprocated her by kissing her on the lips, lightly, without losing the movement that kept them embraced between everybody else.

_Yea there ain't nothing not affected  
When two hearts get connected  
All that is will be or ever was  
Every single choice we make  
Every breath we get to take  
Is all because two people fell in love._

Ron helped Hermione do a turn-around by holding her left hand with his right and then embraced her again. It was funny, in a way, to think that two years ago he had been so terrified of dancing with Hermione and had not asked her until the last minute: now he realised that dancing could be really funny and nice, especially if you were with the right companion.

_I recall a young man who was drifting aimlessly  
And a young waitress who seemed lonesome as can be  
In a little cafe right off 14th avenue  
With a whole lot of help from up above  
We met and things sure turned around for me and you  
And all because two people fell in love._

Neville twirled with Luna over the dancing floor. He had been really afraid of starting to stomp on her delicate feet, but he amazed himself at the gracefulness with which he could turn around if he didn't concentrate on it. He had always been worried that no one would ever like him, the near-squib of the Longbottom family, but last year's frenzy had helped him to gain confidence in himself, and had made him meet Luna, someone who sometimes drove him crazy with her ideas, but nonetheless had charmed him with her thoughtfulness and patience.

_Baby there ain't nothing not affected  
When two hearts get connected  
All that is will be or ever was  
I'm glad your dad could not resist  
And mamma's charm to you exist  
All because two people fell in love._

As Draco embraced Susan, he reflected on how much he had changed since the end of the year before. At that time, he had been bent on avenging his father for his imprisonment in Azkaban thanks to Harry, but her mother had helped him see reason and that had been a huge step towards the actual situation. Right now, not only he had many good friends – all of whom had been, strangely, enemies in the past – that liked him for his personality, instead of his money or influence through his father, but he had a beautiful and brilliant girlfriend by his side and he had a truly noble cause to fight for: instead of helping to bring the darkness to the world, he would help Harry to make his dream of a better society, no longer inspired by racism and xenophobia, but by the joining of all magical races in an equal society in which everybody would amount the same quantity.

_Ya know to me it's all so clear  
Every one of us is here  
All because two people fell in love_

Sirius and Remus smiled as they saw the teenagers dancing around. Sirius especially had come because he wanted to be with his godson after nearly three months without seeing him in person – the charmed mirrors he and James had charmed in his fifth year only could get you so far.

_A baby's born in the middle of the night in a local delivery room  
They grab his feet smack him till cries he goes home the next afternoon._

Everybody clapped very soundly when the last accords of the guitar died. The lights turned on, and six people could be seen on the stage, some of them holding instruments on their hands and others behind bigger instruments. The young brown-haired woman in the middle of the group took the charmed microphone and smiled to the crowd.

"Hello, 'Ogwarts!" she said with a slight French accent – which Harry noted was different from the one Fleur Delacour had, but was still clearly French. "It's nice to see so many people cheering at this wonderful école!" The cheering and whistling made itself really loud then, greeting the group.

"Now, none of us here have ever gone to 'Ogwarts before, having gone to other écoles, so why don't I present everybody in the group, so that you can thank them personally?"

"YES!" everybody shouted.

"If that's what our public wishes, we'll start up there!" she said, laughing and pointing to the guy who was behind the drums. "Back to the right, 25 years old, weight of 60 kilograms, height of 1'75 metres, drums player and specialist on manager-shouting matches, James Vulture from Russell, New Zealand!" Many laughs aroused when the mention of shouting matches was made, and that gave a lot of applause for the tan, blonde man who had the drumsticks.

"Behind me, 34 years old, weight of 80 kilograms, height of 1'90 metres, percussionist, trumpeter and ethnic music player, give a good welcome to Kalonzo Kuyu, from Mombassa, Kenya!" A new round of applause was held for the tall bald black man, who had a great assortment of wooden instruments of African origin around him and a shiny golden trumpet hanging from his shoulder.

"Back to the left, 21 years old, weight of…" the number was muffled because the keyboard player, a pale Japanese girl of brown reddish locks, had pushed the keys in a discordant way. People laughed again. "… well, you'll have to guess, height of 1'65 metres, keyboarder of the clique and the girl who introduced us to the wonderful world of Muggle videogames, coming right from Akihibara Electric Town in Tokyo, Japan, Meiko Yinasai!" The people who clapped the most were the Muggle-borns who knew that Akihibara was a neighbourhood which was famous for housing many shops dedicated to electronic goods, especially videogames and things like those, but the lack of knowledge didn't cut back the applause from the rest of the students.

"Front to the left, 23 years old, weight of 63 kilograms, height of 1'72 metres, our bass player and accounting manager for the group, Joâo Guará, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil!" People cheered when the dark skinned man saluted them with his hand.

"Front to the right, 20 years old, weight of 75 kilograms and height of 1'92 metres, strings player and main songwriter, Alex Cuervo, from Cadiz, Spain!" Whistles and cheers came from the public, mainly from the girls, at the sight of the attractive dark-haired young man that had been playing the guitar. He then took the microphone that was next to him and started to talk:

"Oh, but we are forgetting a very important person right now: to my left, the 21-year-old woman who, with her weight of 60 kilograms and height of 1'77 metres, has been the leader of our group since the moment six people met in a pub in Brooklyn, New York City: our leader, main singer and all-around great person, directly from the city of Quebec, Canada, Celine Aigle!"

The uproar among the students rose when the singer flashed a smile to Alex and sent him back to his place.

"Now, all of us are going to have some food, but later, the concert will keep on! Thank you!"

The students clapped soundly and the lights went back. The students returned to their tables, with their spirits greatly bolstered by the short dance.

Dinner was held in a really joyous atmosphere, with people laughing around and chatting happily about the ball and everybody else. At Harry's table, as well as at the Professor's, the conversation was slightly more serious than in the others', because in those two tables was were the main leadership against Voldemort was concentrated, but still the conversation stayed light enough so that the mood wasn't ruined.

Soon, the dinner on itself – in which the house-elves had surpassed all the expectations, as always – was finished, and the lights were dimmed again. All the tables disappeared after the desserts were replaced by nothingness and two tables at the sides provided the students with soft drinks and some croutons and other things to nibble. As soon as each person stood up, their chairs were sent to the sides, as well, to allow the maximum dance surface available. The six musicians went back to the stage among the applause of everybody. Celine, the singer, took the microphone again and talked:

"Hello back, young people! Tonight's concert is going to be homage to love and the wonderful things it does, as you may have surmised from our first song. Mind you, some of our songs aren't in English, since the six of us have chipped in with our ideas, so those songs that aren't English will be sung by those who talk the corresponding language: for example, if we choose a song in Spanish, Alex here will be the one who takes charge; Maori is James', Portuguese for Joâo, Swahili for Kalonzo, Japanese for Meiko and French for myself. Of course, if we sing in English, the six of us will do so!"

Whistles were heard from the public as new chords were heard from guitar and bass at the same time…

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Dumbledore smiled upon hearing the new chords. He really liked this song: his brother Aberforth, who had been fed up of Albus only hearing chamber music, had given him a charmed stereo and some 'cassettes' with Muggle music. There had been a few songs he had not liked, but he had found a few that were worthy, so he had tried to find some songs that were like those. In the end he had grown up to like jazz music and some of the so-called pop music, especially those that had a sedated rhythm. This was one he had heard many times, and he was keen on hearing it again, especially from a younger person…

_Love is in the air  
Everywhere I look around  
Love is in the air  
Every sight and every sound_

_And I don't know if I'm being foolish  
Don't know if I'm being wise  
But it's something that I must believe in  
And it's there when I look in your eyes_

He gazed at his pupils while trying not to step over Poppy's feet. He could see Harry there, at the corner, dancing with Hermione. Neville was leading Ginny on the floor, Ronald was doing his best with Susan, and Draco and Luna were floating among the others.

_Love is in the air  
In the whisper of the trees  
Love is in the air  
In the thunder of the sea_

_And I don't know if I'm just dreaming  
Don't know if I feel sane  
But it's something that I must believe in  
And it's there when you call out my name_

He looked around, and saw that the other Professors had taken to the floor, as well as he had: Hagrid was embracing Minerva so high that she wasn't touching the floor – something he could tell she didn't like at all, but at least she wasn't being squashed by him, he chuckled –, Severus was dancing with Narcissa, Filius was with Charity Burbage, the Muggle Studies Professor, and Christopher had taken Pomona out. Moody had said that he'd rather don't dance, since someone had to watch out for any invisible enemies that could enter the school while everybody else was distracted – Albus hoped that that wouldn't happen.

_Love is in the air  
Love is in the air  
Oh oh oh  
Oh oh oh_

_Love is in the air  
In the rising of the sun  
Love is in the air  
When the day is nearly done_

_And I don't know if you're an illusion  
Don't know if I see it true  
But you're something that I must believe in  
And you're there when I reach out for you_

_Love is in the air  
Every sight and every sound  
And I don't know if I'm being foolish  
Don't know if I'm being wise_

He could also see the other students dancing around. Most of them – he realised – were forming mixed couples, with half-blood–pureblood ones being the more common, although there were also many Muggleborn–half-blood and pureblood–Muggleborn couples there.

_But it's something that I must believe in  
And it's there when I look in your eyes_

_Love is in the air  
Love is in the air  
Oh oh oh  
Oh oh oh_

_Love is in the air  
Love is in the air  
Oh oh oh  
Oh oh oh_

_Love is in the air  
Love is in the air  
Oh oh oh  
Oh oh oh_

_Love is in the air  
Love is in the air  
Oh oh oh  
Oh oh oh_

When the song ended, Dumbledore let her companion go and clapped before retiring to one of the chairs at the side. Being more than 150 years old, even with his magical powers, making a continuous exercise tired him a lot. And, as time passed, he had to struggle a bit more to recover from extenuating efforts: it had taken him a week and a half to completely replenish his magical core after the duel he had had with Tom last June.

_I really must rest more_, Dumbledore told himself. _Poppy has already told me to take it easy, but I can't leave the efforts in the war against Tom. Until he is banished forever, I cannot rest like I wished I could do._

_I just hope that Harry manages to fulfill the prophecy before my heart stops beating._

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Draco smiled at Susan. He didn't know how he had been so lucky to land himself with such a wonderful girl. If he had known before that siding with Harry would help him to find her, he would have done so before: however, he realised that doing that so early would have brought his father's ire, and only his being in prison had opened that door for him.

_So she said what's the problem baby  
What's the problem I don't know  
Well maybe I'm in love (love)  
Think about it every time  
I think about it  
Can't stop thinking 'bout it_

_How much longer will it take to cure this  
Just to cure it cause I can't ignore it if it's love (love)  
Makes me wanna turn around and face me but I don't know nothing 'bout love_

_Come on, come on  
Turn a little faster  
Come on, come on  
The world will follow after  
Come on, come on  
Cause everybody's after love_

Susan smiled at Draco. At her first year, she had had a bit of a crush on the blond-haired boy, but that had disappeared when she realised that he wasn't a nice person. However, at the start of the year, when Draco asked her so politely for the seat next to hers at Potions' class, she thought that perhaps she could give him an opportunity, and now she could say that she didn't regret doing it.

_So I said I'm a snowball running  
Running down into the spring that's coming all this love  
Melting under blue skies  
Belting out sunlight  
Shimmering love_

_Well baby I surrender  
To the strawberry ice cream  
Never ever end of all this love  
Well I didn't mean to do it  
But there's no escaping your love_

_These lines of lightning  
Mean we're never alone,  
Never alone, no, no_

Narcissa smiled at her son while she was dancing with Christopher, the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. She knew that Lucius had arranged Draco's marriage to Pansy Parkinson for the time both of them were out of Hogwarts, but if Draco married with someone else or Draco managed to take the Head of the Malfoy Family mantle before he finished his seventh year, he would be forced to marry her since the marriage contract was magically binding, and only a marriage held before the deadline or a new Head annulling the contract could stop it from becoming reality. Narcissa hoped that Draco didn't have to marry Pansy: she knew that the girl was as vain as her mother was, and not very bright. In fact, she knew that she was currently going out with Theodore Nott, the one who had taken the role of the Dark Lord's main supporter among the school children (although the number of his supporters hardly reached the score).

_Come on, Come on  
Move a little closer  
Come on, Come on  
I want to hear you whisper  
Come on, Come on  
Settle down inside my love_

_Come on, come on  
Jump a little higher  
Come on, come on  
If you feel a little lighter  
Come on, come on  
We were once  
Upon a time in love_

_We're accidentally in love  
Accidentally in love  
Accidentally in love  
Accidentally in love  
Accidentally in love  
Accidentally in love  
Accidentally in love  
Accidentally in love_

Snape sort-of smiled – it looked more like a grimace than a smile – at his godson with something akin to pride. Somehow, Draco had been able to make a connection with a Hufflepuff, of all people, although one had to say that the nephew of the Minister for Magic actually had some hold on the Wizarding World. He just hoped that he didn't stick his foot in his mouth, as he had been prone to before this last summer.

_Accidentally_

_I'm In Love, I'm in Love,  
I'm in Love, I'm in Love,  
I'm in Love, I'm in Love,  
Accidentally_

_I'm In Love, I'm in Love,  
I'm in Love, I'm in Love,  
I'm in Love, I'm in Love,  
Accidentally_

Draco, looking at Susan's bright dark blue eyes, leaned against her and kissed her lips, slowly, sweetly and beautifully. That is, until Susan decided to get the control of the kiss and it turned rather intense.

_Come on, come on  
Spin a little tighter  
Come on, come on  
And the world's a little brighter  
Come on, come on  
Just get yourself inside her_

_Love ...I'm in love._

In the end, lack of air became an issue and the two teens separated their lips with a smile, and then stayed on the floor to wait for the next song.

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"Well," Alex said, "it's my turn now. This song is one of my favourites. I wrote it myself, and it's in Spanish, so I'm not sure that you will be able to understand the lyrics. However, I hope that you like the music. Music, please!" he said, turning to the others, and a soft music started to sound from the guitar, the bass and the keyboard.

Suddenly, as if possessed by a devil, Neville gripped Luna's hand and took her out to the floor. It was as if this new song was calling for them to dance it, as if this song was made for the both of them…

_Quisiera ser el dueño,  
del pacto de tu boca.  
Quisiera ser el verbo al que no invitas  
a la fiesta de tu voz.  
Te has preguntado alguna vez,  
di la verdad,  
si siente el viento  
debajo de tu ropa  
cuando te bañas en el mar desnuda.  
Quien te acaricia el cuerpo  
en la fiesta de tu piel  
se sentirán la sal, las olas,  
sentirá la arena, me da pena._

Neville didn't understand any of the words the singer said, but he had heard some French when the Triwizard Tournament was held, and he realised there were some similarities in sound and even a few words between the two languages – Spanish and French, of course. He wished that he could understand it, though: it would be nice to know such a fluid language in which he could try to say some nice things to Luna…

_Quisiera ser el aire  
que escapa de tu risa,  
quisiera ser la sal  
para escocerte en tus heridas,  
quisiera ser la sangre  
que envuelves con tu vida,  
quisiera ser el sueño  
que jamás compartirías,  
el jardín de tu alegría  
de la fiesta de tu piel.  
Son de esos besos que ni frío, ni calor...  
pero sí son de tu boca  
también los quiero yo._

Luna was smiling at her boyfriend as he led her through the dance floor. When she had first met him the year before, she hadn't known that they would end together, and now she knew that it was really nice to have someone to share your life with. Dad was a really nice person, and she was looking forward to him meeting Neville…

_Quisiera ser sincero,  
apuesto a que te pierdo.  
En esta frase sólo pido tu perdón  
por qué no escribo algo mejor.  
Ay yo no sé.  
me has preguntado alguna vez,  
por preguntar, que es lo que quiero,  
por qué motivo he dibujado el aire  
que jugaba a ser silencio  
si en realidad te entiendo  
o sólo nos queremos._

As the two of them danced to the music, light war reflected on Luna's blue eyes in such a way that it turned them purple. Neville looked mesmerized at the blond girl's eyes as she looked back at him. For the young man, it was like if the music had turned down and everybody else in the Great Hall had completely disappeared, but even if that had been true, it wouldn't have mattered, because right now the only thing in the room was Luna, with her mysterious aura and her charming smile…

_Y si a la noche como a mí le duele,  
tanto desear de lejos.  
Se sentirán la sal, las olas,  
sentirá la arena, me da pena.  
Quisiera ser el aire  
que escapa de tu risa,  
quisiera ser la sal  
para escocerte en tus heridas,  
quisiera ser la sangre  
que envuelves con tu vida,  
quisiera ser el sueño  
que jamás compartirías,  
el jardín de tu alegría  
de la fiesta de tu piel._

Luna, deciding that enough was enough, dropped her arms around Neville's neck and softly, with infinite slowness, kissed him with her eyes closed. With the same kindness, Neville reciprocated the kiss, while hugging her and carefully lifting her off the ground…

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Ron couldn't stop smiling. He had not stopped smiling since he had entered the Great Hall. Of course, everything was thanks to his wonderful girlfriend, one Hermione Granger, who was currently dancing with him.

When Dumbledore had announced this Ball, one thought had run through Ron's head: 'Next time there is a ball, ask me before someone else does, and not as a last resort!' He knew that that night he had stuck his foot into his mouth really deep, but he hadn't been able to avoid it: the first person he had thought of when McGonagall had told them about the Triwizard Tournament's Yule Ball was Hermione, but he had gotten scared at how fast he had thought that and then it was just a combination of jealousy and fear. But since that time he had grown up, and had told Hermione his true feelings for her, which were – surprisingly and wonderfully – reciprocated.

_We should get jerseys  
Cause we make a good team  
But yours would look better than mine  
Cause you're out of my league_

_And I know that it's so cliché  
To tell you that everyday  
I spend with you is the new best day of my life  
And everyone watching us  
Just turns away with disgust  
This jealously  
They can see that we've got it going on_

Hermione couldn't stop smiling. She had not stopped smiling since she had entered the Great Hall. Of course, everything was thanks to her wonderful boyfriend, one Ronald Weasley, who was currently dancing with her.

After Dumbledore had announced the Ball, Ron had not wasted a second and had instantly asked her out. For a few tenths of second, she considered the idea of letting him squirm around before giving him the yes, but she threw that idea out of the window when she saw those wonderful, bright blue eyes looking at her. She was reminded of the day in which, after fearing that her own death was nearing, he had come to her and taken her from danger. That was also the night of their first kiss, the one that she would always remind, because it had been one of the happiest moments in her life.

_I can not wait for a new improved way  
To let you know you're more to me than what I know how to say  
You're ok with the way this is going to be  
Cause this is going to be the best thing we've ever seen_

_If anyone could make me a better person, you could  
All I gotta say is I must have done something good  
You came along one day and you rearranged my life  
All I gotta say is I must have done something right  
I must have done something right._

Ron looked at Hermione's eyes. Her bright brown eyes reminded him of all the times the two of them had fought, argued, played, walked or just stood next to each other next to the light the fireplace provided. He was reminded of the first time they met at the Hogwarts Express, of the time Harry and he had rescued her from the troll after he had insulted her, of the horrible day in which she had been petrified, of the day she had hugged him after they had reconciled, of how pretty she had been in the Yule Ball, of how daring she had become the year before. But, over all, he was reminded of the most awful day in his life, which in the end turned out to be the best night of his life: there, in the jail, even with her wet face and crying eyes – or, perhaps, because of them – he had never thought she could be any prettier than that night.

_Maybe I'm just lucky  
Cause it's hard to believe  
That somebody like you'd end up with someone like me  
And I know that it's so cliché  
To talk about you this way  
But I'll push all my inhibitions aside  
It's so very obvious  
To everyone watching us  
That we have got something real good going on_

_I can not wait for a new improved way  
To let you know you're more to me than I know how to say  
You're ok with the way this is going to be  
Cause this is going to be the best thing that we've ever seen._

Hermione looked at Ron's eyes. His cobalt blue eyes, so shiny and full of love, always turned her insides into jelly whenever they looked at her. All the time since Harry and Ron had saved her from that gigantic troll suddenly passed over her: the giant chess set in which he had sacrificed himself so that Harry and her could try to pry the Philosopher's Stone far from Voldemort's hands; his look of happiness after she had been un-petrified; how valiantly he had tried to face Sirius when they thought he was trying to kill Harry; the morning in which she had kissed him before his first Quidditch match; and last of all, the moment in which he had asked her to the Ball.

_If anyone could make me a better person, you could  
All I gotta say is I must have done something good  
You came along one day and you rearranged my life  
All I gotta say is I must have done something right  
I must have done something right_

_If anyone could make me a better person, you could  
All I gotta say is I must have done something good  
You came along one day and you rearranged my life  
All I gotta say is I must have done something right  
I must have done something right._

Hermione leaned her head against Ron's chest and closed her eyes, concentrating on the fast and hard beatings of his heart. She smiled as Ron took her in his strong arms and kissed the top of her head. It was heaven, she decided, because it couldn't be so wonderful anywhere else.

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Cho glared.

She had been doing that the whole night. Starting from the moment she saw the trollop Weasley next to her beloved Harry. She still didn't know how Weasley had managed to snag Harry in front of her nose. Perhaps she had used a charm or a love potion, because it would be the most likely way to make Harry supposedly fall in love with his best friend's little sister.

Of course, she had managed to find someone that could take her to the Ball. After all, she was the prettiest girl ever to step into the halls of Hogwarts! However, the boy that she had gone to the Ball with was just a sixth-year Ravenclaw called Terry Boot with whom she had only danced once after leaving him. Then, she had sat down next near Harry's table in hopes that he decided to talk to her and perhaps apologize for his horrible behaviour, as he should have done, but instead he had just stayed there, with his 'girlfriend' and his friends eating and laughing: he should have been talking with her! When the music started, Cho retired to one side, ready to take over if Weasley left him alone for a few seconds, but she didn't have the opportunity as there some of his friends were always with him, and she knew they would also try to stop her from talking with Harry.

Then, she was brought out from her thoughts when the handsome Spaniard took the microphone again and started to sing.

_Entre la cirrosis  
y la sobredosis  
andas siempre, muñeca.  
Con tu sucia camisa  
y, en lugar de sonrisa,  
una especie de mueca.  
¿Cómo no imaginarte,  
cómo no recordarte  
hace apenas dos años?  
Cuando eras la princesa  
de la boca de fresa,  
cuando tenías aún esa forma  
de hacerme daño._

_Ahora es demasiado tarde, princesa.  
Búscate otro perro que te ladre, princesa._

Cho couldn't do anything but feel as if the lyrics were directed at her. Of course, she couldn't understand a word of what the singer was saying, as she hadn't ever studied Spanish, but still she thought that it was as if Harry was talking to her, and not precisely in good terms…

_Maldito sea el gurú  
que levantó entre tú  
y yo un silencio oscuro,  
del que ya sólo sales  
para decirme, "vale,  
déjame veinte duros".  
Ya no te tengo miedo  
nena, pero no puedo  
seguirte en tu viaje.  
Cuantas veces hubiera dado la vida entera  
porque tú me pidieras  
llevarte el equipaje._

_Ahora es demasiado tarde, princesa.  
Búscate otro perro que te ladre, princesa._

Cho kept looking at the singer, while he kept pouring those words in a sweet voice that seemed to hide a harmful meaning among them for her. _It is strange that I feel this way,_ she thought. _I feel guilty, though I shouldn't. Perhaps it's telling me that I was really wrong in leaving Harry, although I already knew that..._

_Tú que sembraste en todas  
las islas de la moda  
las flores de tu gracia,  
¿cómo no ibas a verte  
envuelta en una muerte  
con asalto a farmacia?  
¿Con qué ley condenarte  
si somos juez y parte  
todos de tus andanzas?  
Sigue con tus movidas, reina  
pero no pidas  
que me pase la vida  
pagándote fianzas._

_Ahora es demasiado tarde, princesa  
Búscate otro perro que te ladre, princesa._

Cho, unable to keep looking at the stand, looked around her, and there was Harry, laughing and smiling at something Weasley had told him. How much she wished to be the one making her Harry laugh! However, due to a stupid argument last year, she had lost her opportunity. However, that didn't mean that she wouldn't stop trying to get her Harry far away from the clutches of the red-headed slut!

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Harry was really enjoying this night. He was having a lot of fun with his friends, and his godfather and sort-of-an-uncle were doing their best job to tell everybody as many things about the pranks they had played during their time at Hogwarts, which had everybody in precarious balances while trying not to fall to the floor. After the tables had been cleared, he had danced a lot with Ginny, marvelling at her beauty and having his brain turn to mush every time she flashed one of her precious smiles to him.

Ginny was really enjoying this night. Harry had been extremely gentlemanly tonight, pulling the chair for her, keeping her into the conversations without bothering her, making sure to compliment her in the right moments, and – the best of all – he was dancing like an angel. Thus, she was really glad that Cho Chang hadn't tried to get near him, as it would get a bit ugly if she decided to do so and would probably ruin the night: she had noticed that Chang had kept fluttering around Harry, as if she thought that Harry would notice her if she kept doing that.

Then, Celine took the microphone and talked:

"Well, it seems that our time here is finishing," she had to stop as the 'BOO's from the people were deafening. When they stopped, she continued: "I know, I know, you don't want to leave this wonderful party. Believe me, if I were down there, I would say the same! However, the guys and I are a bit tired, because singing and playing that many songs is not a walk in the park. Our throats are sore, our arms are tired and some of us are yawning a bit too much for this to keep working." A few students laughed aloud. "Anyway, I'm sure that most of you want to get up early tonight so that you can get to the 'Ogwarts Express on time, so now, here is our last song for tonight. It talks about those people that keep on with their lives, without ever knowing what love is, until they meet someone special who really turns their life upside down."

Harry gulped when she said that. It certainly described his own life before knowing of the Wizarding world: living with no love given to him, only contempt at the best of cases and both hate and beatings at the worst. Hagrid had been the first adult to show him something akin to love, Ron and Hermione had given him the love friends feel for each other, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had certainly treated him as if he were one of his sons, and Sirius and Remus were doing their best to fill in the shoes of guardians, but it had been Ginny, sweet and mischievous Ginny, the one who had helped him to truly open his heart to the others. So, he stood up and, taking her by the hand, he asked:

"Will you concede me the last dance, Miss Weasley?"

Ginny, seeing how much his eyes were shining, answered:

"Certainly, Mr. Potter."

With a smile, Harry led her once more to the dance floor and waited for the song to start.

"So, without any more waiting, this is the last song of tonight's Yule Ball." Celine cleared her throat and the first notes came from the guitar and bass.

_I thought love was  
Only true in fairy tales  
Meant for someone else  
But not for me  
Love was out to get to me  
That's the way it seems  
Disappointment haunted  
All my dreams_

_And then I saw her face  
Now I'm a believer  
Not a trace  
Of doubt in my mind  
I'm in love  
I'm a believer  
I couldn't leave her  
If I tried._

Harry closed his eyes, letting the rhythm flow through him. It really seemed like the song had been written for him, or at least based on him: he had certainly thought that no one would ever love him, especially considering how the Dursleys had treated him. However, meeting the Weasleys had been the biggest milestone in his new life and, ironically, Ginny had been the first witch she had seen at King's Cross: it seemed that sometimes Fate really had a weird sense of humour. Now, if only Fate had helped him realise about his feelings for Ginny before…

_I thought love was  
More or less a given thing  
The more I gave the less  
I got, oh yeah  
What's the use in trying  
All you get is pain  
When I wanted sunshine  
I got rain_

_And then I saw her face  
Now I'm a believer  
Not a trace  
Of doubt in my mind  
I'm in love  
I'm a believer  
I couldn't leave her  
If I tried._

Ginny could easily follow Harry's thoughts thread, and she really felt sorry for the incredibly bad life he had had at the Dursleys (she internally promised herself to give the Dursleys a special meeting soon after her birthday), but she was going to make sure that he would always feel love, be it from her, from her parents, from their friends, from Sirius and Remus, from her brothers… it didn't matter who (well, she would make sure that Cho never tried anything with him), but they would make sure that Harry's whole life was filled with love and laughs.

_What's the use in trying  
All you get is pain  
When I wanted sunshine  
I got rain_

_And then I saw her face  
Now I'm a believer  
Not a trace  
Of doubt in my mind  
I'm in love  
I'm a believer  
I couldn't leave her  
If I tried_

_Then I saw her face  
Now I'm a believer  
Not a trace  
Of doubt in my mind  
Now I'm a believer  
Yeah, yeah, yeah  
Yeah, yeah, yeah  
I'm a believer  
Then I saw her face  
I'm a believer  
Not a trace  
Of doubt in my mind  
I'm a believer._

Harry opened his eyes, and looked at Ginny. Her beautiful eyes shined in the middle of the darkness, giving him the silent message of hope, love and faith she always wore when he looked at her.

"I promise it, Ginny. If… when I beat Tom's arse, I'll make sure to repay to you all the things you have done for me."

Ginny's smile widened as Harry said that. She just leaned towards him and kissed him softly on the lips.

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OK, I think a few explanations are needed after so much fluff grin and the boring stuff before our guys head out to their holidays.

First thing first: Hermione's dress for the Ball is the one she wore at the GoF movie. The stones she wears, sapphire and aquamarine, are the birthstones for September and March (then months in which Hermione and Ron were born). Ginny's dress was suggested to me by my wonderful girlfriend, who knows a lot about fashion (I hope she smiles when she reads this), and peridots are the birthstone for August (Ginny's birthday is in August). About the orchids, well, I was planning to have Harry and Ron create the birth flowers for the girls' months, but my girlfriend advised me against it and then I just gave them orchids.

About Black Hawks: yes, none of the songs you have "heard" are original – I've never been good with rhymes and the sort, the Sorting Hat's song was really a lot of luck. The idea of having a musical group in which each person was from each continent was something I had thought of when I started with this fic for the Ball. Each person's surname – save for Meiko Yinasai, whose name I invented completely – is a bird in each of their languages: Aigle – Celine – means Eagle in French (Quebecois people have French as one of their mother tongues); Cuervo – Alex – means Raven in Spanish; Guará – Joâo – means Flamingo in Brazilian Portuguese (in European Portuguese it is said Flamingo, too) and Kuyu – Kalonzo – means Stork in Swahili.

The songs: if someone is interested in hearing the real songs instead of reading the lyrics, here you are:  
- Introduction: Two People Fell In Love (Brad Paisley)  
- Dumbledore's POV: Love Is In The Air (John Paul Young)  
- Draco & Susan POV: Accidentally In Love (Counting Crows)  
- Neville & Luna POV: Quisiera Ser (Alejandro Sanz) (In Spanish)  
- Ron & Hermione POV: Must Have Done Something Right (Relient K)  
- Cho's POV: Princesa (Joaquín Sabina) (In Spanish)  
- Harry & Ginny POV: I'm a Believer (Smash Mouth)

Also, I know that there is very little plot in this chapter, but I had a bit of a block, and all of this was just a lot of fluff to fill in


	22. White Christmas In The Air

Chapter 22

White Christmas In The Air

Harry was really looking forward to his first Christmas with Sirius that weren't marred by somebody else's injuries or horrible toads' behaviour. He would certainly like the fact that, according to Sirius, Number 12 Grimmauld Place had been completely changed by Dobby, who, considering that he didn't have anything to do for Harry, had decided to redecorate the grimy house into something more lively.

The home would be fully occupied for the first time in centuries, as not only Harry and Sirius would be there: the Weasleys minus Percy, the Grangers, Neville, his Grandmother, Luna, her father, Draco, Narcissa, Susan (with permission of her aunt, Amelia Bones) and (surprisingly) Remus, Tonks and her parents, Ted and Andromeda. Sirius had really liked to meet her favourite cousin again, and in the first thirty minutes they had already managed to drive 'their dear Cissy' mad in their 'Black Family Meeting' with their constant jokes and wit contests – Sirius had pouted and said that, before, it only took them ten minutes to reach that stage, something that Remus had taken hold of and suggested that maybe 'the great Padfoot' had lost his edge on the business.

By four o'clock PM, a full-fledged prank war was being fought between the two Marauders. The Eight were laughing a lot at their antics. Harry especially liked the clownish look Sirius was sporting courtesy of a Time-Released Disguise Charm Remus had thrown at him – not that he would tell Sirius that: if asked by him, he would point out the Heavy Storming Curse that casted a miniature storm over the objective, complete with thunder and lightning, which were triggered by the words 'Moony' or 'Padfoot', whether uttered by him or anybody else in the house, something Sirius was very proud of accomplishing.

Fun was, however, cut short when Molly Weasley wielded her wand, cancelled all the curses on the 'adults' and then took both of them by their ears to their bedrooms, much to the amusement of her own sons and daughter, who had many times been given the same treatment, as well as the other teenagers'. All of them came upstairs, commenting on the many fun things they had seen that afternoon. When they reached the second floor, where the girls were sleeping, each couple separated, so that the boys could properly kiss their girlfriends good night.

As they left the girls in their bedrooms, Harry, Ron, Neville and Draco went upstairs to Harry's bedroom, which was the biggest and allowed a better meeting room for them.

"So, what do you think we could do tomorrow? We should start with some sort of a big bang, to surprise the hell out of the others," Draco said. They were discussing the means through which they were going to play a good prank on the people living on the house.

"We should leave the girls free from this prank, because if we don't there will be hell to pay, and Hermione is rather efficient when paying hell to someone else," Ron replied with a worried face.

"Perhaps," Harry said. "If you think Hermione is bad, you should see Ginny when she gets angry. She is too much like your mum, Ron, and I'd rather stay alive to see the next year" Ron grimaced, especially remembering a night a few months before he had started his first year at Hogwarts in which he had played a small prank on him and the resulting storm had left his left ear half deaf.

"So, no girls. If there is an Order meeting on Christmas, we could do a good number on casting something that activates when all of them are together. I'd bet that Moody would go mad after that," Neville said, grinning.

"Yeah, all his talk about 'Constant Vigilance' going down the drain after a small, little prank. People would pay to see it, though!" Ron said, grinning.

"The twins will worship us forever if we manage to do it. I mean, who would be able to catch the great Alastor Moody unaware?" Draco said.

"Barty Crouch Junior did," Harry replied, grimly. "Remember the day you got transformed into a ferret, Draco? That day's newspaper talked about Ron's dad running to help Mad-Eye because he had been 'attacked' in his own house. It wasn't a fluke at all: Crouch and Wormtail had gone for him 'cause they knew that Moody would be teaching at Hogwarts and Voldemort wanted someone to get here and 'help'" Harry actually did the inverted commas, meaning sarcasm, "me get into the Triwizard Tournament."

"Well, anyway, what we are going to do isn't as bad as that. Any bets on Dumbledore's reaction? If we manage to get him, I'm sure he'll start laughing," Draco said.

"I never bet on a sure thing, mate. He has always liked a good prank, even if he has been hit. Remember that he was a very good sport after the BR prank," Ron told the others, referring to the Broken Records prank him, Harry, Hermione and Ginny had pulled to stop girls from asking him and Harry out to the Ball.

"If only we could have been included in that," Neville said, wistfully. "We would have gotten a few extra points, and maybe gotten free of all the pesky girls throwing themselves over us."

"You think you can complain about that? Harry had to stand the worst part of it! Honestly, one hundred and seventy girls asking you out when you already have a girlfriend?" Draco replied. "Honestly, at least Pansy stopped going behind me!"

"Oy, that's something I wanted to ask you. Why did were you always with her?" Ron asked. Draco shrugged.

"Father told me to do it, I quote, 'to improve the bloodline of both our families', end quote," he said. "Anyway, my father and Pansy's had set a marriage contract as soon as we were born, and unless I annul it when I get to be officially the Head of Family – that time in summer was because I was the only Malfoy male able to represent the family – I'll have to marry her when I get out of school."

"No way out of that contract officially?" Harry asked.

"Not unless something that annuls the contract happens, like one of them getting married with somebody else or dying," Neville supplied. "Gran said once that in her times few young people got married out of their betrothals. She got lucky and was betrothed to a boy she really liked a lot, but when she tried to betroth my dad, he outsmarted her and got married with mum before Gran could say anything."

"Huh, that's a good story if I heard it," Harry said. "Anyway, let's get back at business. Any ideas to strike at the adults?"

Ron snorted. "Let me say that Sirius can't be fully described as an adult, as this same afternoon showed."

"That's it!" Neville nearly shouted. "Do you imagine what would happen if all adults in the order were suddenly turned into kids?"

"Apart from being pure chaos," Draco said, "it would be really difficult. You would need some kind of Time-Turner that turned the user's biological clock backwards and then returned them to their normal ages after a few minutes. I doubt that we could do it in less than 24 hours."

"Although your idea has some merit, Neville," Harry replied, thoughtful. "We may not need to actually turn them into children. Perhaps…"

The four boys cracked up and started laughing at the mental image Harry's idea had invoked on their minds. They went on for some minutes until someone opened the door without asking.

"Is there a reason why you are laughing with such a loud noise, and why haven't we been invited to it, if it is such an uproarious occasion?" Hermione said, sitting down next to her boyfriend, and being followed by Ginny, Luna and Susan.

"Uh, oh, she's using big words," Harry said, hugging Ginny, who was smiling and returning the hug.

"Yep, and you know what that means," Neville said, with Luna sitting down in front of him.

"ANGRY!" all the boys cried at once. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Well? Are you going to tell us what was so fun?" Susan asked.

"Oh, it was something we were just thinking about doing while we were here at Headquarters. Listen…"

Fifteen minutes later, Remus – who had managed to dry the water Sirius' Heavy Storming Curse had dropped on him – entered Harry's room to find eight teenagers laughing non-stop. Unable to get something from them but more laughs, he took out his wand and sent Stinging Hexes to each of the eight so that they went to their beds and, while on his way to his bedroom, prayed that whatever those eight had cooked up, he was well far from it.

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_It was too much to wish for, wasn't it?_ Remus thought two days later. Albus had called the Order of the Phoenix for a last meeting in Christmas Eve so that the plans for the holidays and the next year could start to be developed. The meeting had gone along the normal lines, and some plans were put to vote. Narcissa had proposed to go into the offensive, with a raid against some of the lesser Death Eaters, especially Crabbe and Goyle, whose manors might hold dark artefacts that, if used, could give an advantage to Voldemort's side. A heated debate amongst the members – with Moody, Snape and Narcissa in the for, and McGonagall and Dumbledore in the against – ended after a voting established that three quarters of the group were fed-up with just reacting and wanted to take some action against the Death Eaters. Dumbledore promised to hold up to the result of the voting, albeit reluctantly.

When Dumbledore finally closed the meeting, the door clicked to mean it was completely closed and a white mist started to fill up the room, one that no effort from the adult wizards was able to dispel. When the room was so filled up with the mist that the only thing the Order members could see was pearl white, Remus felt as if he was shrinking to a small size, something that, when the mist cleared, had been too much real: now, everybody else in the room had shrunk to what it looked like to be a childlike version of themselves - Dumbledore still had his beard, and Moody his magical eye. Fortunately, their clothes had adjusted to their new sizes. But it wasn't until Severus talked that they realised the extension of _how_ childlike they were.

"What's going on in here?" he said, and he immediately put his hands over his mouth.

It wasn't what he had said: it was the _tone_ in which he talked. Somehow, everybody had been 'graced' with an acute voice much like a child – and a very small child, that is – would have.

Immediately, chaos erupted. Sirius, now looking much like the young boy Remus had first met in their first year at Hogwarts, started to behave like the eight year old he looked like by jumping from his chair running around the table and screaming, only to trip on Moody, who had jumped down to the floor and had fallen to the floor when he tried to walk around: he had realised a bit too late that his new body was not the same as a few minutes before, and therefore the point of equilibrium that allowed the feared ex-Auror to be one of the best duellers in magical Britain was completely different from his new one.

Dumbledore tried to call for a bit of order, but it wasn't too much time until Minerva threw him to the floor and started to tickle him between giggles; Arthur and Molly were playfully wrestling on the floor; Tonks had stood up and immediately fallen to the floor, taking Remus with him in her trip; Narcissa and Andromeda, who were sitting down together, had started to giggle and gossip like they would normally do when they were children; and the other members of the Order were wrapped up in similar childish actions.

A few minutes later, a yellowish mist filled the room and as soon as it disappeared, everybody had recovered their normal bodies, although nearly all of them were in very compromising positions that made them blush a lot. Sirius was the first to talk.

"HARRY POTTER!!"

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Three floors upstairs, eight teenagers were laughing non-stop and so hard that tears were freely flowing from their eyes and their stomachs were aching a lot. However, they didn't stop laughing for at least ten more minutes, when they were able to calm down enough to rest their throats and stomachs from the laughter.

"My, so much fun should be forbidden," Draco said, drying his cheeks.

"One hundred percent behind that, mate," Ron said. "We really outdid ourselves, no?"

"Yes," Hermione replied. "But I have to say that it was masterfully planned. And, Susan, your idea of putting the two-way mirror in that room was wonderful!"

"_Merci_!" the girl said, curtsying.

"But, you know what the best thing is?" Harry asked the others.

"What?"

"We have blackmail material on all of them for a whole life!"

That started them off again.

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Harry woke up early in Christmas Day. He grinned when he remembered the day before, when they had so effectively pranked the whole Order during one of their meetings. Seeing Sirius frothing in the mouth when he realised that Harry and his friends had outdone any prank he might have played against anyone in the house had been priceless, and Dumbledore's dumbfounded face when Hermione, in the name of the others, implied the possibility of showing their memories of the prank to _certain people_ unless _certain matters_ were done at the eight teens' pleasure was even better.

Fortunately for the old Headmaster and the others, the conditions Harry and his friends asked for in return for not to show the embarrassing moments were rather simple and into their reach: full access to the Restricted Section (Hermione and Luna), being allowed in the meetings of the order (Ron and Ginny, and accepted under the strenuous objections of Molly Weasley which were quickly put down by them by means of using the trump card that even if she didn't want them to be in the meetings, they had a way to listen on them that they couldn't stop), the possibility of taking a few books from the Headmaster's personal library (Harry, who also made the promise of taking the maximum care of those books) and full access to all the greenhouses (Neville and Susan) and the Potions lab (Draco). The professors rattled for a bit with this 'invasion of their territories' as they claimed, but little could they do against the good-natured blackmailing they were part of.

In private, everybody said that it had been a good prank, although they made sure that the word didn't reach the teenagers.

Anyway, Harry rose up so that he could go to the dining hall – which Dobby had cleaned to the point that it was almost unrecognisable as the one that they had had to clean the year before –, where everybody had agreed to go to open their Christmas presents in front of everyone else.

As he reached the second floor, he decided to knock on Ginny's door so that she could come with him. Slowly, the door creaked and the sleepy but happy face of the pretty redhead he was so much in love with.

_Merry Christmas, Ginny,_ Harry Mind-spoke to her, caressing her left cheek with his hand and smiling at her.

_Merry Christmas, Harry_, she replied to him, leaning into his caress before finally hugging him with all her might. Harry was surprised by the strength of her hug, which rivalled Molly Weasley's at that moment.

"Wow, there, Ginny, what's the matter?" he asked.

Ginny laughed softly. "Why, it's my first Christmas with you as my boyfriend, Mr. Potter!"

"Why, it is, Miss Weasley!" he whispered back. "You know, we should wake the others up so that they also can enjoy this wonderful day."

"Perhaps we should," she replied, a glint shining in her eyes. "But before we try to do anything, why don't we go downstairs and relax a bit? We may have to prepare ourselves, for if our friends catch us unaware, we might endure ourselves a bit too much pain, if you catch my drift."

Harry nodded solemnly, and Ginny looked into her room for a decent gown that she could wear. After putting it on, Harry and Ginny went downstairs, interchanging small kisses in the way and Ginny laughing at Harry while he subtly tried to slightly open her gown and see inside it, but Ginny had all corners covered so that he couldn't take a peek. It wasn't until they arrived to the dining hall – in which they had accorded to meet for the presents opening – that Harry and Ginny jumped into action: Harry did a few wandless conjurations while Ginny overturned the furniture – with some help from Harry – so that a fortification could be done against the attack the two of them were sure to receive.

"OK, Ginny, just let me throw this charm… now!" Harry had put up one of the most complicated wards he knew, but fortunately it wasn't power the main necessity, but the fact that one had to completely concentrate on both the workings of the ward and the disposition of it, something that Harry could do perfectly. This ward would keep any magic cast in the room from being detected out of it for a few hours. That last thing sucked a bit, but Harry thought that perhaps, in the future, he would be able to put some touches in it so that it could be made more permanent.

Then, Harry made a sign with his hand to Ginny, who nodded and raised hers, with three fingers extended. Three... Two... One...

**WAKE UP!! **They shouted through the Mind Hub, which they then closed into their minds so that no shouting attempt was done through it towards them.

It was less than three minutes later that Harry was able to hear someone thumping downstairs and going towards the room they were in.

"That's Ron," Harry said, knowing that only his friend was able to run downstairs and make that much noise.

"And I think that Hermione and Draco are just behind him," Ginny told him, preparing her wand to start the small battle.

Sure enough, the door that communicated the dining room with the rest of the house forcefully opened and the tall redhead entered, throwing spells towards his sister and best friend, who were covering themselves in the furniture and nearly falling down in laughter at the prank they had come up with. Soon, it was a three-on-two battle, with Hermione and Draco joining Ron, and a bit later it was a six-on-two, with the others joining the fray against Harry and Ginny.

After twenty minutes of fighting, the eight teenagers were exhausted, but Harry and Ginny were still laughing.

"I don't understand you two, guys! Why did you woke us up? I was having a wonderful dream with..." Ron said, but stopped himself and reddened slightly when he realised that Hermione was in the same room.

"Me?" Hermione asked him with a grin. Poor Ron blushed even more, his face turning the colour of his hair.

"Obviously," Draco said. "Although I think that that shade of red is not very healthy, it truly screams 'Yes, I dream with you, Hermione, and I truly love what you do to me in there'."

Harry didn't think that it was possible for someone to blush as much as Ron had, but now it seemed to be a competition between Ron and Hermione to see who was more red.

Susan smacked her boyfriend. "Get your mind out of the gutter, Mister! Or I'll make sure you don't get any!"

Harry snorted. He couldn't really help it.

"Hey! Weren't we going to open the presents here?" Ron said, changing matters.

"Yes, but we still have to wait to the others, remember?" Neville replied. "Believe me when I tell you that it's not a good idea to open presents before my Gran has woken up, especially when she has bought you one."

"We'll have to wait, then," Susan said. "Is anyone up to having breakfast?"

"Yes. Anybody want pancakes?" Harry asked, glad to show off his ability as a cook – practically the only good thing he had been taught at the Dursleys. In the end, everybody asked for pancakes and Ron helped to make some bacon and eggs.

"A Galleon that the smell wakes Padfoot and Moony up in less than five minutes," Hermione told Ginny.

"I never bet against a sure thing, 'Mione," Ginny said with a grin. Sure, three minutes after they had started cooking, Sirius ran downstairs and entered the kitchen, being joined soon after by Remus and Tonks, who was sporting green fir coloured hair in honour of Christmas. The other adults started to trickle in, one by one, into the kitchen that self-expanded so that all the people in the house were able to enter it without becoming like tinned sardines. Fortunately for Ron's nerves, everybody finished their breakfast soon and then they went to the dining room where they would be opening their presents.

The eight teenagers got many books with interesting charms, hexes and jinxes from their families, as well as clothes and candy. Hermione's parents had bought some books for their daughters' friends, and it was obvious they had asked her for advice, because each book was well suited to the characters of the teens: Harry got a book about martial arts and related things; Ron got a book about chess strategies and old matches (after getting surprised at the fact that Muggles actually held international tournaments, he took to reading the book and studying it); Ginny was given a book on First Aid tricks and other things related to medicine; Luna and Neville got a good set of books about animals and plants as they were known in the Muggle world; and Draco and Susan got similar books, but about Muggle advancements and technology, considering that their knowledge of it was rather sketchy at best. The seven thanked the couple profusely for their gifts.

"Well, we hardly could not give our daughter's best friends something nice, no?" Mr. Granger said.

The adults also got a good deal of things: the eight teenagers had pitched in to give their respective parents, godfathers and others a set of nice personalized robes which they had made and charmed so that they all had every charm they could think of. Molly had really liked how her robes flashed the words _GREATEST MUM EVER_, and Adam Granger had laughed at his _I CAN SEE YOU LYING THROUGH YOUR TEETH_ robe. Remus thought that Sirius' _HOT DOG_ was hilarious, but the one everybody liked the most was Narcissa's, which said _DANGEROUS BLACK WOMAN_.

"And I am," she said while giving her son a peck on his cheek – much to his embarrassment. "I truly wish to show Lucius that I can be dangerous when I want to."

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The good mood Christmas brought to those living in Grimmauld Place vanished two days later when Sirius opened the _Daily Prophet_.

_**ATTACK ON TORBAY!**_

_What does the Boy-Who-Lived do?_

_Written by Lise Votivir_

_Last evening, a cadre of Death Eaters showed up on the small town of Paignton accompanied by several vampires and a few trolls. Upon their arrival, the Death Eaters started to launch curses – the Unforgivables being the most pre-eminent in their arsenal – at the unsuspecting Muggles who were out in the street, celebrating the holidays and coming back to their houses, while vampires attacked on those who passed near enough and trolls smashed every 'automobile' in sight. The attack resulted with the death of ten Muggles before the Auror Corps arrived just five minutes before the attack started._

_However, that still leaves a question: where was the Boy-Who-Lived while this was happening? According to certain sources, he is spending Christmas with his supposed girlfriend Virginia Weasley, daughter of former Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office and current Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement Arthur Weasley. Miss Weasley, who is described by these sources as 'a plain-looking, boring witch', has apparently been going out with our young hero since last autumn. However, according to a Hogwarts student who wishes to remain anonymous, this relationship may not be a completely voluntary one on the part of the Boy-Who-Lived._

"_The Weasley girl has had a crush in Harry for many years," this student says. "She has tried to get Harry's attention for a lot of time, and I'm sure that she must have used some kind of love potion on him. That's the only possible explanation, because just before last summer he was going out with somebody else with whom he was much in love with."_

_This is not the first time the young Mr. Potter has been subjected to a love potion: in 1994, Miss Hermione Granger tried to use one on both Harry Potter and Viktor Krum, but apparently it never did its job, something for what we should be thankful._

_However, ensnared by a love potion or not, Mr. Potter should be out there, fighting You-Know-Who's followers and saving us like he did fifteen years ago._

Sirius didn't read more of the newspaper, and angrily threw it aside, cursing the idiots who decided to contract that Votivir woman.

"What's the matter, Sirius?" Remus asked when he saw his friend insulting the mother of the editor of the newspaper and her abilities to keep her from hitting on other people.

"Those idiots in the _Prophet_," Sirius replied, "although normally they do good articles, sometimes they contract the most stupid reporters. That one about Harry is a quarter normal article and three quarters _Witch Weekly_ rubbish!"

Remus took the newspaper Sirius had thrown away, and one minute later the paper flew back to the same place as Remus cursed the intelligence of the _Daily Prophet_ reporters.

"Moony, you know, I think that thing you are suggesting is physically impossible," Harry told his adoptive uncle with a smirk.

"Harry, although I don't like to do this, you have the right to read this," Sirius said, and Summoned the newspaper so that Harry and his friends could read it.

"Two Galleons to Harry putting the paper on fire," Remus whispered to his best friend.

"Accepted, but I think that he will shred it with his hands."

None of them won: upon reading the accusations of laziness from the reporter, he just made a black hole and threw the paper inside. His green eyes were darkening in anger, and he was radiating power through all his pores.

"How dare that... _witch _accusing me of 'not doing my duty'? And accusing Ginny of using love potions on me?"

"Any bets on 'the mysterious Hogwarts student'?" Ron said, red-faced with anger, too.

"Oh, come on, that one was obviously Chang," Ginny replied. "She is the only one who could have made those idiotic comments on 'Harry being much in love with somebody else'."

"Pretty clear, but who is this 'Lise Votivir'? I've never heard of her in my life," Hermione said. "I doubt that anyone would try to pull out that article Rita Skeeter wrote in fourth year for _Witch Weekly_."

"Maybe because the one who wrote this is Skeeter," Luna said in a less-than-dreamy voice. Everybody looked at her.

"How do you know it?" Draco asked.

"If you rearrange the letters in Votivir's name and then change each letter for the vowel or consonant before in the alphabet, you get Skeeter's name." She took a piece of parchment and a quill from those who were near the fireplace just in case and wrote:

LISE VOTIVIR

SOVE TLIIVIR

RITA SKEETER

Neville was the first to speak up. "Have I been going out with her too much, or is she actually making sense?"

"The latter, I think, Neville," Harry said. Then, he turned to Hermione. "Couldn't you have blackmailed her for a few more years, Hermione?"

"It wasn't as if I could see the future, you know," she replied. "Why don't you try to make a formal complaint against the _Daily Prophet_?"

"It wouldn't work," Draco said.

"When the Freedom of Press Act was signed in the 1800s, no one thought to made an addendum to stop reporters from vilifying other people," Susan said, "and an attempt to make a complaint could be seen by the press as trying to censure them."

Harry was thoughtful for a few seconds. "Sirius, do you know when is the next meeting of the Magical Heads?" Harry knew, through his classes with Dumbledore, that the Magical Heads Council was able to submit laws that could be accepted by the Wizengamot if it passed a vote.

"Next Sunday, I think. They usually send the invites three days before of the meeting. Why?" Sirius asked.

"Because I have an idea," Harry said.

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"ORDER! ORDER!" Minister Amelia Bones shouted.

It was the day before New Year's Eve. The Magical Heads Council had been called to a meeting in which any laws that any head wished to put forward for a voting could be done. The Heads had just arrived to the courtroom and had been talking for a few moments and greeting those they hadn't met before. Minister Bones, in her position as the Minister for Magic, and Albus Dumbledore as the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, would be presiding.

When all the Heads were silent, Minister Bones stood up. "This is the last Magical Heads Council meeting for the year 1996. As you know, the meeting we are holding right now is being held so that any proposition of law can be requested and debated according to the Wizengamot Foundation Laws of 1100. Does anybody hear wish to submit a law to be debated?"

Harry then stood up, grateful that Dumbledore had given him so many classes on the workings on the Government of Magical Britain, since what he had learnt there would help him a lot in here.

"Minister Bones, Chief Warlock Dumbledore. I, Harry James Potter, Head of the Most Noble and Ancient House of Potter, wish to present a possible law to be debated by the members of this august Council and then given to the members of the Wizengamot to be accepted."

"Then state your proposition, Lord Potter," Minister Bones said.

Harry cleared his throat and started talking. "Members of the Magical Heads Council, I come here, before you, to present a proposition of law. I am sure that, giving that you are upstanding citizens of Magical Britain, you use to read the _Daily Prophet_ newspaper, no? And I am also sure that you read Miss Votivir's article on the attack on Torbay a few days ago. If you remember it, only one paragraph talked about the actual incident – which I had hoped didn't happen at all – and the rest of the article only talked about my personal life, vilifying my name and that of my girlfriend, Miss Ginevra Weasley, as well as mentioning other things that were shown to be clear fabrications a long time ago."

"Do please go to the point, Lord Potter," the Minister said.

"Of course, Minister. I was just trying to tell the members of this Council the circumstances behind my proposition. As I was telling, the newspaper was showing falsehoods and lies as true facts, at the same time showing my name and that of my friends and family under a bad light.

"I'm not sure how many of you are familiar with the Muggle world, but I'll suppose that more than a fifty percent of those in this room don't know anything and just explain something.

"Muggle press, of which I can tell that there are much more different newspapers than the magical world has, works under certain premises: independence, attempt to make sure facts in there are as certain as possible, and complete objectivity.

"The latter means that, when writing an article, a reporter should stick to the facts and not present his personal views on it, unless it is an editorial. If you ever read a Muggle newspaper, you would see that what they show are the utter bare facts, with no criticism on it against the Government or a concrete person."

"Excuse me, Mr. Potter," Mr. Crofton, the runner-up in the Minister elections, said on a voice that clearly showed what his feelings towards Harry were. "Are you, perhaps, suggesting that we apply a censorship on the press?"

Harry shook his head. "I would not suggest that, Mr. Crofton. Afterwards, it would be rather hypocritical of me when hardly a few months ago we ousted Cornelius Fudge from his position as Minister for Magic for, between many other things, censoring the _Daily Prophet_ to stop them from publishing articles that showed that either the Chief Warlock and me were right about Voldemort's return.

"No, what I am trying to push forward is a law that I know exists in the Muggle world but not in here. I wish that a law may be approved so that, although newspapers may still write what they wish, a complaint can be presented against them if an article that has clearly been written to run someone's reputation down. For example, if this Miss Votivir wrote that you, Mr. Crofton, were an evil person and a menace to the society, without actually presenting proof, would you prefer to report their vilification of your character or would you let them talk bad about you?"

Crofton didn't say anything, he just sat down and grunted.

"I'll take that as a 'yes, I would do the report'," Harry said, not surprised by the lack of an answer. Then he looked at the other Heads. "As you have heard, even Mr. Crofton has realised that this kind of thing would be beneficial, not only for us, but for the whole country, as no one would have to be subjected to the whims of stupid reporters or be accused through the newspapers, as it has happened to many people who have been humiliated by Rita Skeeter's Quick Quotes Quill, which usually tends to spout the hugest lies I've ever read."

"I think that it is enough, Lord Potter. Your idea has been perfectly explained to the members of this council. Will someone second the vote?"

"I, Sirius Orion Black, will second the vote," Sirius said.

"Thank you, Lord Black. Now, everybody must vote on the proposition. Cast a green light if you want to vote in favour, a red light if you want to vote against."

Harry cast his green light. He discreetly looked around and saw that there were more green than red between the members of the council, and smiled.

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_**ANTI-INFAMY LAW APPROVED BY THE WIZENGAMOT!**_

_Harry Potter, proposer of the new law._

_Written by Nick Haydyn._

_During yesterday's Magical Heads Council official session in Courtroom one of the Ministry of Magic, Mr. Potter surprised everybody when he made a proposition of law. The surprise was that he was asking for the Council to approve a law which would make possible for wizards to make a formal complaint should there be vilification of character in an article._

_Until today, this wasn't possible under the Freedom of Press Act of 1885, which allowed the press to act independently from the Ministry. However, this didn't stop former Minister Fudge from pressing the editor of our newspaper to run down Harry Potter's and Albus Dumbledore's good names – of which I, in the name of the staff of the Daily Prophet, beg forgiveness for._

_Apparently, Mr. Potter's idea was prompted by Miss Lise Votivir's article in 27__th__ December's _Daily Prophet_. Also, it's possible that in his mind was the articles Miss Rita Skeeter wrote about both him and his good friend Miss Hermione Granger for both the _Daily Prophet_ and _Witch Weekly_ during the school year 1994-95, when Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft held the famous Triwizard Tournament._

_I, for one, didn't like Miss Skeeter's unscrupulous idea of journalism, and I'll be glad to see that this new law will manage to draw a line in the sand that no one will dare to go through, anymore._

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It's shorter than normal, I know. However, I couldn't think of more things to put in here, as nothing more would happen during Christmas holidays. Writing will resume at mid-January (in the story, of course!), and Harry and Co. will have to face both the problems of being a teenager and the problems of being the future saviours of the world.

Now, a teaser for the 7th year story, _Harry Potter and the Cup of Merlin_! The first five people who read this and answer correctly the next question, will learn what is the Cup of Merlin and the new things that will appear for Harry's last year at Hogwarts!

This is the question. What do the next happenings have in common?

- Harry sees Snape being badly injured by Fluffy.

- Dobby tells Harry that the Chamber of Secrets exists.

- Harry falls down from his Nimbus 2000 broom while hearing his mother.

- Harry and Ron decide to go play Quidditch against Hermione's advice.

- The human toad commonly known as Dolores Umbridge talks in a fluttery, girlish, high pitched voice: Harry expected her to croak.

- Luna tells Harry that Wrackspurts make your brain go fuzzy.

- Hermione Side-Apparates Harry and Ron at the same time.

Please, answer in a PM, as someone would be able to answer the question by looking at the reviews.


	23. All Work and No Fun

Chapter 23

All Work And No Fun...

The return to Hogwarts on the Express went out without a hitch: remembering the attack on the platform last September, the Ministry had organised a small task force dedicated to provide security for the students getting into the train. The travel on itself was pretty uneventful - save for Cho's umpteenth try to make Harry change his mind over her, which was stopped through Ginny's subtle and judicious application of fire on her robes, distracting her for enough time so that Harry could get back into his compartment (he had needed to go to the loo), close the door and douse the fire as the Asian-looking girl ran away screaming in panic. Once the train arrived to Hogsmeade, a team composed of Aurors and members of the Order of the Phoenix again escorted the students into the Thestral-drawn carriages, so that the students could keep on with their dull and boring lives – at least, that was they way Sirius was putting it.

However, Harry knew that things were about to come much, much worse during the next few months: from his 'walks around Tommy's mind', he knew that Voldemort had ordered his Death Eaters to increase the number of attacks on Muggle towns, because he had realised that any attack with magical homes near it was surely going to attract the Auror Corps attention.

Sure enough, two weeks into the new term attacks on Muggles were becoming nearly a daily thing. Harry, though he was able to partially block the visions about Voldemort, he still was drawn into whatever Voldemort was doing during those horrible nights, and he still felt the pang of guiltiness every morning when the _Daily Prophet_ reported the deaths happening during the last night. This affected way too much to his mood, which slowly worsened.

Ginny and the others knew what was happening to Harry, and they tried to do their best to help their friend, but nothing seemed to work, until a Saturday morning in which Harry finally exploded...

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Ginny had been thinking of Harry for the last twenty minutes. He hadn't come down to breakfast, saying that he wasn't hungry. Ron and Neville only had left when Harry said that Ra would be looking after him, and that he could always come downstairs to the kitchens if he wanted to have some food later in the morning. The girls and Draco had been informed of the same thing, but Ginny felt still a bit uneasy because she could feel a part of whatever Harry was feeling, and what she could feel right now was a mixture of anger and sadness. She knew that the killings of Muggles were really affecting Harry, and she could picture him right now, brooding on the bed, as he had done too many times last year. Harry was a hard person, she knew, but even the strongest person needed a break from time to time, a few hours in which he didn't have to worry about anything, a few hours to just _relax_.

By the end of breakfast, Ginny was noticing how Harry's anger was starting to rise, slowly, bit by bit. Ginny knew that Harry had put walls on his part of the Mind Hub to prevent the others from talking with him and stop his feelings from reaching the others, but yet the seven teenagers were realising that the seething they were feeling was coming from their friend and non-declared leader.

All of them realised how bad were things going on when they felt Harry's Mind Hub wall shatter in pieces and they felt the pure, unadulterated rage that the black-haired boy was feeling. Immediately, the seven run out of the Great Hall.

"Crap!" Ron exclaimed when they met in the stairs. The seven went upstairs, trying to find Harry before something ugly happened. "He has snapped!"

"It's been too much for him, you know," Hermione said once they reached the second floor. "I'm not sure if he is getting enough sleep lately, with the attacks. I mean, one thing is to read about them, but to have direct mental contact with someone who not only is actually there, but also orders and participates in them? Most people would have gone mad just by going through half of that."

"Thank Merlin Harry isn't 'most people'," Susan replied.

"Anyway, I'm worried about him; I tried to talk with him about this, but you know about his 'saving people thing', if the Death Eaters kill someone he can't stop to wonder if he could have done something to save them."

"Let's see if we can find him first, and then we'll try to calm him down," Neville suggested. "Do you think he might have left the Map in his trunk?"

"Considering how angry he was, he might have forgotten to take it. We can't count on it, though. At least we were keyed to that part of his trunk, or we won't be able to catch him."

When they arrived to the Fat Lady, Hermione said the password and the seven teens ran into the common room, going upstairs. Ginny opened the latch that kept the trunk closed and, after the magic in the trunk recognised her, they all saw with relief the piece of old parchment in which the Marauders had built the map of Hogwarts.

"_I solemnly swear that I am up to no good!_" Ginny exclaimed with her wand on the parchment, which started to fill up with ink lines. They opened the Map and the seven teenagers started to read it frantically, searching for Harry, when Draco pointed out to a place right next to the door to the Room of Requirement, where Harry's dot was seen momentarily before disappearing.

"Oh, no!" Susan said. "He is at the Room of Requirement: now there is no way we can try to help Harry until he comes out!"

"Let's get to the door, at least we will be able to get to him when he comes out," Neville said, and the others nodded.

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Three hours after arriving to the door, Harry was still furious, the door to the ROR was still closed and Ginny and the others were starting to get a headache that only their Occlumency shields – which Harry had taught them to use, so they were very good – were stopping from being a huge migraine.

Then, suddenly, the flux of feelings coming from Harry stopped. This, Ginny hoped, meant that Harry had managed to calm down enough that he had been able to put up his shields or either that Harry was exhausted and couldn't do a thing.

"Seems he calmed down," Draco said.

"Or that he is out," Neville replied. "Ginny, can you try to reach Harry through the Hub? It works best with you."

"I'll try," Ginny said. She reached within her mind the link that joined her to Harry. She tried first to call him, but he didn't answer to her frantic calls, so she did something Harry and her had promised not to do unless there was an emergency like this: she entered his mind through the link.

She really liked how Harry's mind was organized: the first line of defence, the bank-like building, had been well strengthened since he had started with his training with Fabian so many months ago: the walls, originally made of titanium and brick, had been reinforced with steel-reinforced concrete; the floor had been reinforced along the same lines, and the surface was covered with white marble save for the entrance to the labyrinth, which had a slightly different coloured marble. Ginny didn't try to get into it, for she knew she would get disoriented, and Harry had always told her that, unless he was attacked, his mental image tended to be around the place. Since he wasn't there, it was very likely that he was attacked or unconscious. Either way, they would have to wait for him to wake up.

"Sorry, people. He must be unconscious, I couldn't find him," she told the others in an apologetic tone.

"Well, then there's no way that we can get into the Room," Ron said.

"Wait!" Draco said. "Harry told me that he had bonded with Dobby, no?"

"Yeah," Ginny said. "You think that we could call him and see if he can get in?"

"He should; remember the day Harry was teaching us the Patronus last year? Dobby was able to get into the Room without a problem. I think it is because house-elves can get through most wards wizards put because they don't think of them," Hermione said.

"Call Dobby, Ginny. Considering that you are the nearest person to Harry, he is most likely to answer to you more than anyone else."

"Dobby?" Ginny said, doubtfully. Unfortunately, nothing happened, meaning that Ginny couldn't really call Dobby.

"It didn't work," Hermione said, sadly. "What do we do next?"

No one knew what to say. It was then when the door to the Room of Requirement opened. The seven teenagers stood up and rushed inside.

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Inside the room, all for Harry Potter was darkness and pain, pain of an indescribable scale that was threatening to overcome him completely, pain from the helpless and tortured people his nemesis had captured.

It all had started that same morning. Harry was feeling a headache which he knew was coming from Voldemort. He didn't want to risk a visit to his mind, because it would be difficult to concentrate with the flux of Tom's feelings towards him, but he could gather enough information from those feelings that he was happy in a sort of way, and something about a ritual. It was when he started the ritual that Harry exploded.

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Apparently, a few weeks after Voldemort had come back, he had requested from Malfoy where his diary was. Malfoy, caught red-handed in the fact that he had tried to use it to further his own goals, had been subjected to a long round of Cruciatus Curses and physical attacks that had left him ridden in bed for three days and had forced him to cast a glamour on his face for a month until the scars disappeared – he must have been wearing one when Harry saw him after the hearing the summer before his fifth year.

However, recovering the rests of the post-Basilisk-fang-hammered diary – which Malfoy had dumped somewhere in his house, taken away by a house-elf and recovered a few days after the escape from Azkaban last summer – had given him the possibility of recovering it as it was before being used by Ginny Weasley. Voldemort would have really liked for the diary to be exactly as it was before being destroyed, with all of Ginny's secrets and her life force, but the Basilisk venom had freed that part of the girl, which had rejoined its true owner and would prevent him from ever knowing anything about the girl. However, he knew that the part of him he had put into that book would truly be a worthy ally, and when Potter died, he would destroy the magical construct he had created for the diary's Tom Riddle and make it rejoin him, so that his plans for the Weasley girl went forward.

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It was the ritual itself that made Harry explode: to repair the diary, Voldemort had killed sixteen Muggles – one for each year he had lived before creating it -, but he didn't do it with the Avada Kedavra, which, at least, killed people painlessly: no, he had to do it in the most painful, gross way.

He first had his Death Eaters use the Cruciatus Curse many times on them to 'soften' them, and then he used a spell that would keep them alive and awoke no matter what happened to them, short of a Avada Kedavra.

Unfortunately, that first part had been the best, because what came after was one of the most gruesome, painful things Harry had ever seen: he had sixteen of his Death Eaters – fortunately, Snape wasn't among them, because if he had been there, Harry wouldn't ever be able to look at him without remembering it – chant in a unknown language around the sixteen Muggles, who had been tied to the floor face down with their heads pointing to the diary, which had been placed in the middle of the room.

Then, Voldemort acted and, snapping his yew wand out, chanted in the same language that was being used by the others, but he used other words. When Voldemort finished chanting, he drew a circle and shut up.

Then the screaming started. Harry was unable to unlock himself from Voldemort's vision, even when he was doing it with all his efforts, and thus was forced to see everything.

Slowly, sickeningly, the skin of the tortured people started to peel itself from their bodies, leaving the flesh out in the air. As the skin separated from the Muggles' bodies, it started to fly towards the diary, which started to restore itself with the skin. After twenty excruciatingly slow and painful minutes, the sixteen Muggles had lost all of their skin, and their bodies were a gross sight, all of them completely red and losing blood at a fast rate. It was then when Harry managed to rip his mind from the vision, and he stood up, running towards the first place he thought of where he could vent up his fury at Voldemort for killing those people: the Room of Requirement.

Once he arrived, the door sealed itself behind him and the Room provided with what he needed: complete statues of Voldemort and a baseball bat.

The first ten statues, which were made of plaster, were easily smashed into nothingness. The next twenty, made of china, resisted a bit more against the bat, but since Harry was instinctively hardening it with his magic, it wasn't too hard. Statues twenty-one to fifty were made of ice, and Harry managed to cover the bat with fire, melting the ice away.

From there, everything was a huge blur: there were metallic statues which Harry banished wandlessly or melted; marble statues which Harry smashed; there were even one or two plushes which exploded when Harry hit them.

It was only after three hours of intense batting that he started to see black from exhaustion. His arms and his legs were pained, but not as much as his heart, which was bleeding for those who had just died because Voldemort had decided to do it.

Once he destroyed the marble statue that depicted Voldemort pointing at him with his wand, his vision blurred, he dropped the bat he had been using (and which disappeared when it touched the floor, along with the rests of the statues that were still left on the floor) and fell on his knees before he fainted.

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Albus had been talking with Minerva when he realised that Harry hadn't come down to have breakfast with his friends. He was a bit surprised that this happened, but supposed that Harry might be a bit under the weather, which he could tell from the slightly worried faces of his friends.

Then, when he was talking with Christopher about how he was faring with the seventh years, he saw how Harry's friends suddenly stood up as one and ran outside of the Great Hall under the astonished view of all the students who were in there. This worried Albus much: if they were running so fast, it might mean that something was happening to Harry and they had detected it through the link the eight teenagers had.

He then had a premonition. The kind of reaction they had had could perfectly mean that Harry was in some kind of problem, but since no one could have gotten inside of the school without warning him (that was the new wards' doing), it could only mean that Harry had been trapped within Voldemort's mind.

"What do you think is happening, Albus?" Minerva asked him.

"I fear that Harry might be caught in one of his visions, and his reaction isn't a good one," Albus replied.

"Albus, I thought Occlumency would stop them," Minerva said.

"I thought so, Minerva, but it seems that the connection between Harry and Voldemort is far more deeper than what I thought," Albus said, sadly. "Although, as far as I can tell, it shields Harry against the worst effects, which is an improvement."

"Shouldn't we be doing something? If Harry's friends are running like that, it's obvious something grave must have happened," Minerva insisted. Albus shook his head.

"For the moment, I'd rather not do anything. Harry isn't in immediate danger right now, and should his friends need any help, they would send for us. All of them know how to use the Patronus Charm, and Miss Weasley is quite proficient with the medical charms."

"I hope for our sake, Albus, that they truly don't need any help now," Minerva said.

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Three hours and a quarter later, Madam Pomfrey was making the most of her free time, now that there were no injured or ill students, and was reading a novel her cousin had given her about an albino wizard who hunted down dangerous creatures for money.

Thus, she was quite surprised when she saw a silver horse trotting into the hospital wing. She knew it was a Patronus Message Charm, but she didn't know who it was from until she heard the voice.

_Madam Pomfrey, we're bringing Harry, he is ill!_ the voice of Ginny Weasley rang with great worry clearly heard. The matron jumped from her chair and pointed her wand towards a bed while whispering a few words. The bed made itself while she looked for supplies and readied them. Honestly, that poor boy couldn't stay out of the hospital for a few months! She really loved Harry to death, but she would prefer that he didn't have to stay so much in the hospital wing.

However, she put those thoughts aside when she saw Miss Weasley levitating Harry on a stretcher and being followed by her brother, Miss Granger, Mr Malfoy, Mr Longbottom, Miss Lovegood and Miss Bones. She could instantly tell that Harry was in a bad state, from the look of Miss Weasley's face.

"What happened to him?" she asked.

"Severe Magical Exhaustion coupled with accumulation of lactic acid in his muscles. He also has some bruises in his legs and torso, and I believe that he has seen something that has shocked him too much," Ginny said.

"OK, put him in this bed and cover him with a blanket, he'll recover faster if his magic doesn't have to fight and keep his body warm. Please, give him this Pepper-Up Potion while I find the anti-bruise cream."

"I thought that Pepper-Up Potion was used for healing colds," Neville said.

"That's a collateral effect of the Pepper-Up Potion," Draco said while Ron helped Ginny to put the unconscious Harry on a sitting position. "What it really does is to boost your magical reserves so much that it tends to overflow and cures you of minor illnesses like colds. That's why, when you are given some, you start to steam, because that's how you expel the extra magic." Then he looked at Harry, who was swallowing the potion thanks to a little magical help, but to their surprise he didn't even expel a tiny bit of steam through his ears. "Although it seems that Mr Potter here feels that he can jump over the rules everybody else follows," he said with a small chuckle.

"SME isn't a laughing matter, Mr Malfoy," Madam Pomfrey told him in a stern tone. "Many wizards have suffered from it and it took months for them to recover because they hadn't been taken to a Healer on time." Then she drew out her wand and drew a complicated scheme over Harry's body, and she smiled sadly. "It seems that Mr Potter was lucky; he is already recovering from the SME, although he will still be out for a few hours. Miss Weasley, I'm going to need your help to spread these on his body to erase the bruises and restore his muscles. I'll have to undress him," and then she pointed her wand at Harry's T-shirt, which Vanished, leaving him topless.

"Hell, Ginny, you'd better hope that no girl catches Harry like this or you'll have to beat them off with a stick," Hermione told her friend, who was hardly paying attention to her as she drooled over her boyfriend.

"Looks like Ginny has been attacked by Wrackspurts," Luna said, dreamily.

"Then I hope that we can help her before they eat her," Neville said, passing his hand in front of Ginny to distract her. That did the charm – no pun intended – and Ginny woke up from the Harry-induced stupor. Then she noticed the bruises he had in his torso. They weren't very big, but they covered his left pectoral and part of his abdomen, and there were some small bruises in his muscular arms, too.

"Good, there aren't too many bruises," Madam Pomfrey said, giving one of the anti-bruise cream jars to Ginny. "Put this only on the bruises, Miss Weasley. It doesn't matter if some goes into uninjured skin, but too much could cause some grave problems. And cast a Impervius charm on your hands before, it'll keep the cream out of your skin," she said, doing that as she talked. Ginny copied her and in a few minutes all the bruises in Harry's upper body disappeared. Madam Pomfrey cleaned her hands and pushed everybody but Ginny behind a curtain.

"If you were any other person or you didn't have knowledge of Healing, I would ask you to remain behind the curtain too, Miss Weasley. However, some help might be good in order to help your boyfriend, no?"

Ginny nodded, and Madam Pomfrey Vanished Harry's jeans, leaving Harry only in his underwear. Once again, Ginny had to resist the urge of jumping into Harry's bed and hug his heavenly body. Once all the bruises in Harry's body faded, Madam Pomfrey took a small jar that had an ointment: Ginny supposed that it was for restoring Harry's muscles and eliminating the lactic acid on them. This time, Madam Pomfrey didn't extend the ointment over his whole body, just his arms and his abdomen.

"That'll do," she said, and Conjured a hospital pyjama over Harry's body, covering him again with the blanket that had been moved to apply the ointments. Then she moved the curtain away, letting the teenagers seat around Harry. "You can stay here until eight o'clock, but I hope that you will be able to behave in here. If not, I'll oust you, understood?"

The teenagers nodded.

"Good. When he wakes up, call me with a Patronus Message. I have to call Harry's godfather to tell him about this."

As Madam Pomfrey left the hospital wing, Hermione conjured several chairs for them to sit around Harry's bed.

"What must Harry have seen to keep him like this?" Neville asked, worried.

"I don't know but to make him snap like that, but it must have been something really horrible," Hermione replied.

"We won't know about it until he wakes up, though," Ginny said.

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Albus was doing his best to keep up with Sirius and Remus. The two men had suddenly Flooed into his office, saying something about Harry that he hadn't been able to pick, but he supposed that Madam Pomfrey had contacted them. After leaving a note so as to say where he was going, he went behind them, using his magic to improve his stamina and speed, but it was still hard to keep up.

However, since he knew that Harry would most likely be in the hospital wing, he didn't have any problems in following Sirius and Remus.

Once he arrived to the hospital, he was surprised to see Sirius on the floor, apparently Stunned by Miss Weasley. Remus seemed to be about to start laughing, but he took out his wand and Revived him.

"Wow, what was that?" Sirius said, shaking his head.

"Padfoot, next time try _not_ to jump over your godson when his friends are around," Remus said.

At the mention of Harry, Sirius jumped up and walked to the bed were Harry was lying. Draco – who was the one on the bedside nearest to the door, stood up to let Sirius sit down next to Harry, and Susan did the same for Remus, Conjuring two more chairs for herself and her boyfriend.

"What has happened to Harry?" Remus asked, as Sirius caressed Harry's hair.

"Harry felt a bit ill this morning, so he stayed upstairs in the room. We aren't sure about it, but we think that he received a vision from Voldemort that made him snap. Then he went to the Room of Requirement and stayed there three hours doing Merlin knows what. In the end, the Room let us in and we found him. He was suffering from SME and accumulation of lactic acid, so we think that he was doing some sort of physical effort coupled with big uses of magic."

"SME? What's that?" Sirius asked.

"Severe Magical Exhaustion," Remus told him. "He has used too much magic in a relatively short period of time. How grave was it?"

"Let me put it this way: we gave him a Pepper-Up Potion and he didn't steam at all," Draco stated.

Remus and Sirius paled.

"But he is recovering well, Mr Black," Susan said. "Madam Pomfrey has been casting on Harry and thinks that he is past the dangerous phase. He should wake up in a few hours."

"Thank you, Miss Bones," Sirius replied, absently. "Harry, why does everything happen to you?" he asked to the air.

"Sometimes he has the worst luck in the world," Remus said.

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The teenagers, Sirius, Remus and Ra – who had flashed in a few hours ago, having recently recovered from a Burning Day – were still in their silent vigil around Harry when the clock struck half past seven. They had had dinner at six, when a house-elf had appeared to ask them if they wanted to, but they hadn't eaten a lot, as they were much too worried about Harry.

"Children, I'm sorry but you have to start going back to your common rooms," Madam Pomfrey said. They seemed to be about to complain, but they understood that they should be back, so they stood up and went out of the room, not without telling Harry in a soft voice that they would be coming the next day. Remus and Sirius didn't left, but one of them went to the bed beside Harry while the other was in the chair, so that they could take turns until Harry woke up.

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"He did what?" Albus said, surprised.

Severus Snape, the spy of the Order of the Phoenix had in the inner circle of the Death Eaters, nodded with disgust clear in his face. "I found it from Goyle, and I am glad I wasn't there, because it was truly horrible and disgusting. He didn't care at all for the Muggles, he just let them in there after the ritual for his snake to eat one of them and for the Death Eaters to kill them. And, from what I could tell, the ritual was pointed to restore the diary Lucius planted on Miss Weasley's cauldron four years ago, something I fear that he has been successful with."

Albus sighed. "I do understand why Harry is in shock. I just hoped that Occlumency would stop the visions completely when he mastered it. It seems that Harry won't be able to escape them until he finally defeats Voldemort. Do you know what is he planning to do with the diary?"

"I fear not, Albus; in fact, I think that the Dark Lord is already suspecting me as the spy for the Order. But, considering what Harry told us the diary was supposed to do back when Miss Weasley was possessed by it, there is the possibility that he might try that again, and have a copy of himself with him."

"Not that I don't believe you, but where would that fit with the plan for Miss Weasley?" Albus replied. Severus shrugged.

"I have to confess that I don't know: it's just a theory. However, it's the only thing that makes sense in my opinion."

"I suppose that your idea has merit, Severus. Since that diary was a magical construct made by Voldemort by means of imprinting his personality and such into it, he could just re-absorb the magical energy within the diary when it isn't useful to him any more."

The two men spent some time in reflection, pondering on the uses that Voldemort would really have for his diary.

"Severus, about Voldemort's suspicions, you always wear your emergency Portkey, no?" Albus said with worry. Severus nodded grimly.

"I always do, Albus. However, it won't help much if he suddenly decides to put up anti-Portkey wards and tries to kill me."

"I believe it would be good if you carried this on your pocket," Albus said, searching in one of his drawers and picking out two coins. He gave Severus one of them and charmed the other

"What are these?" Severus asked, seeing that they were much like normal Galleons, only that they weighed less.

"Just something I copied from Miss Granger. Of course, it wouldn't have to do if you had to put some coordinates in there. You just have to press the coin with your thumb and finger. I will feel the other getting hot and I will be able to send Fawkes to you."

Snape nodded, gratefully. "I just hope that it doesn't come to this, Albus."

"I hope the same, Severus," Albus replied.

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Sirius was fighting his need to sleep and his dropping eyes. He needed to be awake so that he could watch over his godson. He was the only link he had to his best friend from school, the one who was his brother in all but blood. He had lost him and his wife in that horrible Halloween night fifteen years ago, and the day after someone he thought was a friend had turned out to be a traitor. Sirius had ended up in prison when the traitor framed him for both the betrayal to the Potters and his own death.

The memory of holding Harry in his arms was one of the first he had lost to the Dementors. It had been one of the happiest memories he had ever had before being sent to prison. Thankfully, although he had lost them forever, now he had memories that could replace them: the first time he saw Harry, back when he was thirteen; the night they had finally met; how fast he had accepted his offer to come to live with him; meeting him through his fourth year; the times spent together in his fifth, and coming back to him last summer. Harry's face in the latter was truly one of his most treasured memories.

He then looked at a side, and smiled at his friend Remus, who was currently sleeping. Like with Harry, he had lost both the good memories and the contact with him, but was replacing them at a good pace, too. The day they had met after coming back from behind the Veil had been a great one, full with laughter and teasing when Sirius found that Remus had fallen to the charms of his cousin Nymphadora.

As his eyes dropped for the umpteenth time that night, he smelled... _something_. He couldn't exactly put what it was, but he knew that someone was coming into the hospital wing.

It was a known fact that, when a wizard or a witch managed to complete the Animagus transformation, some of the traits of the animal would slowly appear in the wizard or witch. For example, someone who could turn into a bird would not suddenly sprout wings, but would be able, for example, to 'read' the wind currents as birds did, which could help when they took a broom and flew with it.

Sirius, as a dog, had picked out the sense of smell of that animal, and what Padfoot could smell, Sirius could too. And right now his nose was picking out a smell he knew he had felt before, but he didn't know where exactly he had found it. However, he could perfectly tell that someone was approaching him – and Harry's bed – at a slow pace. Looking around, he couldn't see no one, which meant that that person was using a method to stay invisible, and the fact that there were no disturbances on the air meant it was an Invisibility Cloak instead of a Disillusionment Charm. Sirius only knew of one person in the school that had one of those, and it was Harry, which meant that either someone else he didn't know had one – very unlikely – or it was one of Harry's friends.

Sirius grinned. "I wonder what would Poppy do if she caught an unauthorized student in here."

_Now_ he could hear the person under the cloak as he – _More likely she_, Sirius thought with a mental chuckle – kicked the bed where Remus was sleeping in and cursed under her breath.

"Good night, Ginevra," Sirius said. Ginny yanked the Cloak and glared at him.

"What did I tell you the last time you called me that?" she said.

"Ehh, wait, let's see if I remember... Oh! I think the exact words were 'If you ever call me Ginevra again, I'll make sure that you won't have the opportunity to procreate any small Blacks.' But you wouldn't surely try to come up into that threat when your boyfriend is right there, no?"

Ginny raised one of her eyebrows. "Using emotional blackmail to keep me from giving you what you deserve? You must be losing edge if you are resorting to that."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "I NEVER lose edge, my dear lady. I just do what I can with the resources on my hand."

"Yeah, sure, that's what you would like," she replied.

"Oooh, you woke me up when I was having the best dream..." Remus muttered, getting out of bed.

"Anything to do with my cousin, perhaps?" Sirius said, cheekily.

"You're lucky Harry's here, or you would find yourself in a position that wouldn't allow you to give pleasure to Miss Jones ever," Remus replied in a threatening tone.

Ginny saw with a grin how Sirius paled after that threat.

"Why did you come here, Ginny? You know that Poppy would be perfectly capable of skin you alive if she catches you here," Remus said.

Ginny grinned. "That's why I have this," she said, showing a two-coloured candy.

"Is that a Skiving Snackbox?" Sirius said.

"Yes, a Puking Pastille. It'll do wonders if Madam Pomfrey appears," she replied. "As to the reason of my presence in here... I just wanted to see how he was, because I felt as if Harry was about to wake up."

"You sure about that, Ginny?" Sirius said, looking at his godson.

It was at that moment that Harry started to groan aloud. Ginny ran to his side so that she could hug him very strong. The red-haired girl was surprised when she felt Harry silently crying against her. He was crying for those who had died because a madman had decided to kill them. He cried for those who had been killed by those who followed the madman. He cried for those families broken because of him. He cried for those he had lost to that madman. But, over all, he cried for those he was forced to see dying without being able to do a thing to save them.

Not knowing what to do, Ginny just held him, letting him cry over her shoulder while she caressed his lap, trying to calm him down. After a few minutes, Harry's tears started to slow down, but he started to sob.

"It was so... awful... he skinned those Muggles... alive... to... restore... that diary..."

Ginny paled. That was wrong in so many levels! The only diary Harry could be talking about was Tom Riddle's Diary, and the fact that Voldemort had restored it was pretty horrible on itself, but skinning people alive... that was too awful, and Harry had been forced to see it through Voldemort's eyes. She started crying too, for she could feel the pain Harry was projecting, which was empowering her own pain for those who had died, and lied down next to Harry, who was hugging her as if he feared she would disappear.

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It wasn't until the day after that Harry was able to shake off the shock of watching the ritual, but all could tell that it still had affected him a lot. For days after it he was a shade of himself. Oh, he still lead the DA and still worked out with his friends and still did his homework, but those who knew him best could see that he had lost his spark, that spark that usually signalled that he was ready to rumble with anyone who dared to even look at his friends in a wrong way. Ginny and the others did the most they could to help him recover that spark, but to no avail: Harry seemed to be broken after he saw Voldemort's level of cruelty.

Harry's friends were really sad to see that nothing they did helped Harry to revive; however, they didn't know that other thing might be what Harry needed to come out...

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"Albus," Snape said, "the Dark Lord has just called me."

"Be careful, my child, and remember to have your coin on hand," Albus replied.

Snape rolled his eyes at being called 'child' again and retracted his head from the Floo, which he subsequently used to reach the nearest public fireplace, which was the one in the Three Broomsticks. From there, Snape could Apparate to the place where Voldemort had set up his headquarters and to which one couldn't Apparate unless you had the Dark Mark.

Upon arriving to the Riddle Manor, Snape took out his cloak and mask out of his pockets and donned them, so that he could blend in between the other Death Eaters.

When the Dark Lord entered, all the Death Eaters in the room – around fifty, by Snape's estimates – knelt. What surprised him was to see him being followed by an unmasked young man which, from the distance, distinctly resembled Harry Potter: however, this unknown person was a few inches taller than Harry was, his hair was more tidy than the unkempt hair Harry normally had, and the boy's eyes were of a dark colour he couldn't ascertain from the distance, but was certainly not Harry's emerald green.

"This boy here," Voldemort said, pointing to the dark-haired boy, "is called Tom Riddle, and from now on he is to be considered only second to me. Any order he gives is to be considered an order given by me. Should I be absent from here, he is to be obeyed as me. Anyone who doesn't obey this rules shall find out that going against me isn't a good idea. Anybody has an objection to that?" he hissed. No one moved a muscle or even made a sound.

"Good. Now, it might be a surprise to you, but I have discovered that we have a traitor within our ranks," Voldemort said.

Snape, although his face was hidden by his white mask, forced himself to not move a muscle on his face, but moved his arm slowly towards the coin, and, trying not to call the Dark Lord's attention, he pressed the fake coin with his fingers. However, it was all for naught when he kept talking.

"He incorrectly supposed that I wouldn't have found him yet, and tonight he came here, no doubt in the useless hope that he would keep me misled on the identity of the spy that fool, Mudblood-lover Dumbledore had in our auspicious group. So," then Voldemort magically removed Snape's mask, "Severus Snape," Voldemort hissed. "I wonder why would you betray us to the blood-traitors and Mudbloods that are infesting our lands and stepping on our rights as the true owners of this world."

Snape, who had panicked upon realising that something was keeping Fawkes from finding him, decided that, if he was going to die, at least he would do it as a man. He stood up and looked the hideous snake-man he had worked against for so much time into his red eyes, who reflected the slight surprise of seeing Snape standing up instead of remaining on his knee.

"I started to work against you on the moment you decided to kill Lily Potter. It was I who told Dumbledore you wanted to kill both the Potters and the Longbottoms, it was I who managed to tell the Order of the plans you had for Ollivander's in 1979, it was I who told the Order of your obsession with that Prophecy, it was I who alerted the Order of your Death Nibblers intrusion in the Department of Mysteries last year, it was I who told the Order of the exact moment in which you would attack Azkaban and free those idiots," he continued, pointing at Malfoy and the Lestrange brothers – Nott and Dolohov weren't there, apparently –, "and it was I who told Dumbledore about your little plans for Draco Malfoy and Ginevra Weasley. The only thing I am telling you all of this is because I am sure I am going to die right now, so I'm going to make sure that at least I go down with you knowing all the things I have done to damage your cause and with you watching my falling into flames of glory," he finished, drawing out his twelve-inch-long, willow wand with an unicorn core, and pulling out his Death Eater robes, leaving him in trousers and a black long-sleeved shirt.

"Be it that way, Severus," Voldemort hissed, "you'll die and soon your name won't be named at all save when referenced as the highest traitor to us, the one who betrayed the rightful ones when it was clear they were about to win and served the traitors of our cause and died an ignominious death."

Snape snorted. "Please, with the incompetence all these idiots portray, I wouldn't be surprised if you fall down in less than half a year."

"You think so, Severus?" Voldemort replied. "Then, I think that I will have to prove you otherwise."

Before any of the other Death Eaters could even blink, Severus had shot several nearly lethal curses against both Voldemort and his followers. Two of the latter fell down never to rise again, and the other two would die later due to their injuries, but Voldemort was able to stop the grey-lighted curse before it hit him. For a few minutes, Snape moved around, cursing as many Death Eaters as he was able to, but he was hit by a Cruciatus Curse from his back.

"See how your fight was useless, Severus?" Voldemort hissed. "How to oppose me was unfruitful? Let's see how much time you last under the Cruciatus Curse until you beg for me to kill you."

"That will happen the day Bellatrix is ordained as a nun, and Old Lucy there," he said, pointing at Malfoy Sr., "does the same." The two aforementioned witch and wizard sent twin Cruciatus Curses at him at the same time. It was really painful for him, but the years of going under Voldemort's curses – which could probably be the strongest Cruciatus from a wizard nowadays – that he was able to resist the pain without giving a shout.

"I've seen First Years shoot Tickling Charms that pained more that those," Snape said. That got him other Cruciatus Curse, courtesy of Voldemort.

"Any opinion about my Cruciatus Curse, Severus?" Voldemort said.

"Just that it wasn't very nice of you," Severus replied with a sneer. Another round with the Cruciatus was sent to him, and Severus prayed that he died soon.

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Ginny didn't know what to do. She had been walking with Harry to lunch when he fell down to the floor and started writhing while he held his hand over his forehead. Obviously, Harry was having a vision again. She called her friends through the Hub while she held Harry close.

"HARRY!" Ron shouted as he ran into the corridor, with Neville and Hermione following him.

"What happened to him?" Neville asked as Ron tried to scoop Harry in his arms.

"Harry's having a vision again," Ginny replied, while she directed her brother towards the Hospital Wing, laying him down on one of the beds as soon as they arrived.

"I've sent Dumbledore a message," Hermione said. "I told him what happened, more or less."

Madam Pomfrey entered the hospital wing when she heard the people talking from there, and was surprised to see Harry there.

"Oh, honestly, what happened to him now?" she said, half-exasperated, half-worried.

"He had a vision again, Madam Pomfrey," Ginny said. "We already sent a message to Professor Dumbledore, but we don't know when he will arrive."

Suddenly, two phoenixes and Dumbledore flashed into the infirmary. The phoenixes – Fawkes and Ra – started to sing in a low-key in order to comfort Harry as Dumbledore looked at him, very sad.

"I fear that I already know what Harry is watching," he said. "Severus was at a meeting with Voldemort, and I had given him a charmed coin so that he could tell me if he needed help. He just activated his coin, but Voldemort must have put his base under a spell that stops anything but what he wants to come through, because Fawkes couldn't go to him, although he knows where he is."

"Are you saying that Harry is seeing Voldemort torturing Snape?" Neville asked.

"Not only that, but it may be possible that Harry may be about to be witness to the death of Severus," Dumbledore said in a sad tone. "And it won't be a quick one, because Voldemort will want to make an example of him."

The girls seemed to be about to cry, and the boys had paled at that. Since all of them were looking at Dumbledore, no one saw Harry suddenly opening his eyes, with an ardent fury on them, so intense that it would make even a Dementor run away in fear. He then held out a hand and twisted it, creating a black hole, and transformed into his Animagus form.

"Aahh!" Draco said, being scared at the sudden transformation of Harry into a phoenix, which then flamed and vanished. If any of them had had the ability to see magic, otherwise known as Mage-sight, they would have seen a small fire-like ray going into the hole before disappearing...

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Well, that cliffhanger was surely the best place to stop this story! It was really difficult to write this chapter, because I didn't know what to put in here! Snape being caught by Oldie-Voldie (worst joke ever, I think) has been planned for a lot of time, and Harry rescuing him is within the plans, but I wasn't very sure about this.

Many of you will be asking yourselves several questions:

Why does Harry have bruises on his body? The rests of the statues, when Harry smashed them, hit him. I know it's strange, but Harry used magic to power up his attacks and the magic made the statues explode outwards, hitting him.

Why is Harry still having visions when he is a Occlumency Master? The answer is: the connection between Harry and Voldemort is like a back door in Harry's mind which Voldemort can't find within his mind but sometimes collides with when he is feeling very happy and/or angry. The reason why Harry can find the connection and travel to Voldemort's mind is related – in my opinion – to the nature of the Killing Curse: since Harry was able to survive it, Magic would interpret that Harry is the strongest one and somehow gave him a power over the connection that Voldemort can't have: remember that the only time he tried to possess Harry, it caused him a lot of pain.

Why did Voldemort use that incredibly gruesome ritual to restore his diary? Well, I'm not sure if you've heard about it, but there is a fictitious book called _Necronomicon_ which is, supposedly, made of human skin. I just supposed that Voldemort would do this ritual in order to reinforce the magic of the diary, which then restored itself to the point before being used by Ginny – because Ginny's life force sucked out of her during her first year was ejected from the diary after Harry used the Basilisk fang on it and had gone back into her, along with all the things she had told 'Tom'. As to how did Tom Riddle appear as completely corporeal so soon, when it took months for him in Ginny's first year to even get out of the diary? I just like to think of Ginny as a strong witch, even in her first year – with her being the first Weasley girl in many generations –, so it would have taken 'Tom' a lot of time to overcome Ginny's power and absorb it. And, before you ask it, Voldemort just had one of his Death Eaters kidnap a witch – probably a foreigner one, so that the Ministry wasn't alerted – and forced her to write in the diary.

Why couldn't Fawkes find Snape when phoenixes can normally go anywhere in the world with just a flame? It's because Voldemort, knowing Snape was the traitor and being sure that Dumbledore would try to send Fawkes to help him, he had put on a special ward that prevents anyone and anything that doesn't have the Dark Mark on his arm from entering the Riddle Manor.

Severus taunting Voldemort and the Death Eaters? He is doing it because he knows he is going to die – that's what he believes, anyway... – so he wants it to be quick, and knows the best and fastest way is to get someone – mainly Lucy Malfoy, XD – angry enough that he forgets Voldemort would want to torture a traitor.

Some of you may recognise a few things from either other works of fiction: the book Madam Pomfrey is reading when Harry is taken to the hospital wing after suffering SME is, obviously, _The Witcher_ by Andrzej Sapkowski (half the books about this wonderful character had been already published by the year 1997); the fact that the first memory Sirius loses after being sent from Azkaban is holding Harry as a baby is a homage to one of the most wonderful fanfiction series I've ever had the pleasure of reading, whydoyouneedtoknow's Dangerverse series (highly recommendable, with lots of fun and action, but even drama gets in the way); and Snape calling Lucius Malfoy 'Lucy' comes from the same place – at least, I think so.

About the competition: I'm sad to say that there were only 2 people who guessed correctly: the correct answer was that all of those events appear in page 134 in each book's English Children Edition (I'm not sure if it's said like that, but you understand me, no?). Congratulations, Saph and Zesh! I hope that you Aussies are having fun!

But don't worry, there is still a possibility to get to know about Harry Potter and the Cup of Merlin! Just answer correctly to any of these answers and you will get a synopsis!

Question 1: Which author correctly guessed one of the most important details revealed by Mrs. J. K. Rowling in _Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows_ near two years before the book was published? Clues: the detail is on the title, and you can find it in .

Question 2: Which detail from the book _Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire_ was changed for the American edition, making the scene non-canon before it was changed back to what says in the other editions?

P.S.: Honestly, guys, this story really deserves more reviews! I can't believe that this story has been going on for much more time than Prodigy, has thrice the chapters in Prodigy and it has hardly a seventh of the reviews Prodigy has! If you read this story, at least leave a review, be it to tell how much you liked it or if something could be done to improve the story!

P.S.: The answer should be sent on Private Messages, not on Reviews!


	24. Makes Tommy A Boring Snake Man

Chapter 24

... Makes Tommy A Boring Snake-Man

Severus was starting to go unconscious, and he welcomed it. He just wanted the pain to stop, he wanted to die just so that he could leave the place, stop being tortured by Voldemort and be able to see his mother and his only friend when he attended Hogwarts... Lily... he wanted to apologize, and tell her how sorry he was for being such an idiot, for telling Voldemort the prophecy that spelled her doom, for treating her son so badly... he just wanted, at least, to cast a last look into her emerald eyes before he was sent to his own personal hell, for he thought that was what he deserved after causing so much pain in his life.

However, this was not to be. Because, you know? We can't be sure if there is some super-powerful entity out there, that thing people call 'God', but even if it didn't exist, at least we can be sure that the universe has the strangest sense of humour, because Severus was about to see those eyes he wished to look at...

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Voldemort was enjoying way too much the torture of Severus Snape... but he didn't see it that way. He was just giving his due punishment to the one he had seen so much promise in. If he had some fun by doing it, who could blame him?

When Severus was first brought to him by Abraxas Malfoy (Lucius' father and a faithful follower since he had created the group back in the fifties, when it was known as the Knights of Walpurgis), he had seen a lot of himself in the young boy. A half-blood wizard, unloved by his Muggle father, a Slytherin driven by his thirst to prove himself from the others... there was even the slight physical resemblance, if one looked carefully. He had been very helpful when providing him the Prophecy, and although he didn't understand why he wanted the Mudblood Evans, he acquiesced to his wish as a reward for his services.

His anger at Severus for not being immediately at the graveyard following his resurrection subsided slightly after applying a dose of Cruciatus on him and the fact that Snape could very well be his spy in Dumbledore's group again. He had even provided him with several pieces of important information, such as the fact that Dumbledore was keeping a guard around the prophecy Severus had only told him the first half of. He had tried to get it through several ways: first making Lucius use an Imperius Curse on one of the Unspeakables – who had then gone mad after trying to touch it; then, making Nott cast it at one of the Order of the Phoenix guards, Podbore or something like that – he had been caught with his hands on the door; and, finally, he had possessed Nagini and tried to enter through the door, being able to nearly kill one of those blasted Weasleys, but people had arrived to the place before he was able to open the door.

It hadn't been until he had taken his Death Eaters out of Azkaban that he learnt from Augustus Rookwood that the only people who could take a prophecy out of its place were those the prophecy talked about. It was then that he started to plan how to lure Potter out of Hogwarts and into the Department of Mysteries so that he was the one to retrieve it and then send his Death Eaters to recover it. Through the Blacks' house elf, he got to know who Harry would run to save should he think that person was in danger, and to make sure that his conception of Sirius Black was correct, he told Narcissa Malfoy to get a memory from the house elf that could show him the physical appearance of Black. Although it had worked in part, in the end it had been a total fiasco, because he never got to hear the Prophecy, all the Death Eaters he had sent to the Ministry – save for Bellatrix – had been imprisoned and he had been seen by that fool Fudge, blowing up his cover and revealing the British wizards that he was alive. He had certainly made sure that his followers understood how upset he was over the whole operation. And Black's death, which was the only thing that had gone well, had been reversed somehow!

As he cast the Cruciatus on Severus for the fifteenth time that night, he shivered slightly.

He didn't notice that all of his followers had shivered, too.

He didn't know why was he shivering. It certainly wasn't because he was cold, since his magical body could stand the coldest and the temperatures in the world thanks to the use of his father's bones in his resurrection ritual. It was something he hadn't felt in years.

He had shivered in fear.

The last time he had felt like that, it had been the last time he had faced his former Transfiguration Professor, Albus Dumbledore, which had been eighteen months before his attack on the Potters. Even being a hundred-and-twenty-year-old wizard, Dumbledore had nearly defeated him. Fortunately for his reputation, he had been alone when he had faced his former mentor and, after Apparating away, he was able to brag that he had been on the verge of killing him before several members of the Order of the Phoenix Apparated near the place where they were duelling and he had been force to leave, least he got in a fight against ten wizards at the same time.

He didn't know what had made him shiver. When he was at Hogwarts, he had taken Care of Magical Creatures so that he could understand things about important animals like the basilisk, the runespoor and the dragon, but instead he had gotten stuck with flobberworms, bowtruckles and nifflers. However, he had read about several magical animals in his books, but he hadn't paid much attention to animals like the unicorn or the phoenix – even though his wand had a phoenix tail feather core – because he thought they were weak animals just for being staunch symbols of the light. Had he read the phoenix entry a bit more in depth, he would have seen that, upon hearing the song of a phoenix, those of evil heart suffer for the pureness and love they send out through their song. Had he read that, he would have realised that those effects matched what had made him shivered.

But he had not read that. And that was why, a few seconds after that, he was surprised to see a red and gold bird appear in the air and transform into a dark-haired man who then landed in the middle of the room, creating such a shock wave that it knocked those who were the closest to him, and blasting the others towards the walls. Voldemort hadn't been knocked out because he always held on his person a small amulet that protected him from surprise magical attacks, but the shock wave had knocked the air out of him, leaving him unprepared for the next attack of the man.

The dark-haired man suddenly summoned a sword from nowhere and attacked Voldemort. The first attack he made cut a few fingers in his right hand, the one that held his yew wand. The second attack nearly severed his head, and it was only the timely jump backwards he had done in pain over the loss of his fingers that prevented this, but he couldn't escape totally, as the mysterious attacker had been able to make a cut through his windpipe and certainly destroyed his Adam's apple. The third attack ripped off his left arm, leaving him completely defenceless against him.

Before he could even drop to the floor, the man raised his left hand and used a Blasting Hex on his knees, grinding them completely. It was then when he saw the attackers' eyes. They were filled with fury, fury very much beyond of the one he himself had felt hardly a few minutes ago upon hearing what Severus had done against him. He whimpered upon seeing that gaze directed towards him. That gaze was really powerful, much more powerful than the one Albus Dumbledore had every time they had duelled, and definitively much more powerful than his own gaze, which had made nearly all the wizards and witches he had met tremble. It was the incredibly intense emerald green in those eyes that made him realize who exactly had appeared in the middle of Severus' torture session, had defeated his followers in less than a second and had then proceeded to smash him without doubt.

Potter. _Double blasted Harry James Potter_.

Voldemort only managed to say one word.

"How?" he said. He finally fell unconscious on the floor.

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Severus Snape welcomed the stop of the torturing curses. He had felt a small wind going over him, and then a good lot of _thud_s around him. Then, he heard someone – he couldn't tell who, as his senses were overloaded by the Cruciatus Curses he had been receiving for the last twenty minutes – scream pathetically in pain. _Wimp_, he reflexively thought.

After a last _thud_ was heard – it seemed to be someone fainting – he heard some footsteps coming towards him, and then someone was checking on his pulse.

"Don't worry, Professor, I'm getting you out of here now," he heard. With a supreme effort, he opened his eyes, and in the half darkness of the room, he could make out the green eyes of his friend Lily, but the person looking at him in concern was not a woman, but a man. A young man, but nonetheless a man. Only one living person had that combination, and he knew it.

"Potter?" he gasped, and he winced in pain at the effort talking supposed to him. Harry smiled sadly at him.

"Yeah, it's me. I'm making sure that we aren't losing our Potions Master like this. I'd bet that you'd rather keep living so that you can torment a few more first years, no?" Harry chuckled a bit. Then, he transformed into a phoenix and flew over Severus, catching the wizard's robes with his talons and vanished in a ball of fire. Neither the Death Eaters nor Voldemort would wake up after nearly a day had passed, and when that happened, the former would be really grateful to keep away from the latter...

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When Harry disappeared from the bed, pandemonium had started among those who had been there in the Hospital Wing. It was only the presence of both Albus and the phoenixes that stopped them into trying to search Harry. For a few minutes, they restlessly waited for Harry to appear back at the infirmary or, at least, to come back to Hogwarts, as Albus knew, through his connection to Hogwarts, that Harry had indeed left the grounds.

They didn't have to wait for a lot of time. Hardly a few minutes after he had left, a new black hole appeared in front of them and a phoenix suddenly appeared over the bed next to the one Harry had been lying on before and carefully left his burden on it, which was, to Dumbledore's surprise, the man he had thought was about to die while he couldn't do a thing.

"Poppy!" he shouted, as Harry transformed back into his human form over his own bed, the one Madam Pomfrey had threatened to decorate with a plaque stating Harry's ownership over it. The matron went over Severus waving her wand, seemingly overcoming her shock over Harry's disappearance.

"He is going to need several anti-Cruciatus potions, some muscle relaxants as well and a Dreamless Sleep potion," she stated. She pointed her wand towards the cabinets in the wall and several vials flew towards her, catching them on the air and putting them in the table next to Severus' bed. "I fear that I don't have enough anti-Cruciatus potions here in stock, but I'm sure that Severus will have some in his store. Miffy!" she said, and a house-elf popped in the room.

"What is you wanting, Madam Pomfrey?" she asked with her high-pitched voice.

"Please, go to Professor Snape's rooms, find a box that says 'anti-Cruciatus potion' and bring it here."

The elf popped again and was back soon with the box Madam Pomfrey had asked for and she thanked her, dismissing her. Miffy bowed to Madam Pomfrey and popped away.

"Very well," the matron said, and helped Severus drink a first vial of anti-Cruciatus potion, followed by the muscle relaxant. "In a few minutes, he will have another dose of anti-Cruciatus, and then the Dreamless Sleep potion."

"What can you tell me about him, Poppy?" Dumbledore asked, bringing her aside.

"He's going to need several days of rest, as well as a regime of potions for the week after that. He has been under the Cruciatus Curse for too much time, although he has been lucky enough: a few more minutes under it and he would have gone the way of the Longbottoms. Now, tell me what exactly has happened here? I could swear that I saw Mr Potter transform himself into a phoenix and disappear."

Dumbledore sighed. He would have to come clean in this – there were few people that knew the range of abilities Harry had, and he didn't want to Obliviate Madam Pomfrey.

"Harry is a Phoenix Animagus," he told the woman, "and he has control over something that can be used as a portal between two places, overcoming any wards between both points, but only for magic or inanimate objects, as it isn't able to take living beings through it. He used both things to find and save Severus, as he was within certain wards that prevented phoenixes – and thus, Fawkes – to go through them."

Madam Pomfrey seemed to be impressed by this. A Phoenix Animagus was something that only Merlin was supposed to have done – and even that was a myth. And that thing about the portals... it seemed very interesting, as it could help achieve several important things like instant communication or transport of potions without peril of damage or loss. However, if Harry was the only one who could do that...

"Well, I, for once, I am glad that Mr Potter was able to save Severus. I have treated both of them too many times for them to fall down now," Madam Pomfrey stated.

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That same night, Harry was sitting down on his bed after the long day. Madam Pomfrey had looked over him before claiming him to be 'perfectly healthy' before being sent out of the Hospital Wing. Although with his friends he had been able to stay happy and had talked with them a lot, upon arriving to the room he had closed the curtains around his bed and had started to reflect over what he could have done.

_I could have killed him right now. I could have ended the war without no-one being the wiser. Why couldn't I do it?_

Just then, Ra appeared in a ball of fire and started to sing a soft song as he tried to cuddle into Harry's lap. Harry stroke the phoenix's feathers as he gave into the song as it helped him to relax.

_Thank you, Ra. I don't know what I would do without you._

_Master Harry, you don't have to worry about that. If I might inquire what is troubling you?_

_Ra, I had in my hands the possibility to finish this horrible war once for all, and I didn't. I had knocked out Voldemort when I arrived there, and I could have killed him. Why didn't I do it at all?_

_It's not within your nature to kill someone in cold blood, Harry. No phoenix would do something like that. Even if you weren't a Phoenix Animagus, I know that you wouldn't kill someone who couldn't defend himself._

_Then how am I supposed to do this? I am the one who has to kill Voldemort, because of that stupid Prophecy!_

_Harry, although phoenixes don't like death, we understand that there are people who are far too bad for the humans. We would rather that you take people alive without killing them, but both of us know that Voldemort has been a danger to humans to allow him to live._

_I still think it's too hard to kill someone, even if it is a dark wizard who has tried to kill me since I was born. I feel like I would lower myself to his level if I kill Voldemort._

_That's the main difference between the both of you, Harry,_ Ra answered. _While Voldemort wouldn't hesitate to kill you, and even to kill any of his followers if it gave him an advantage of some kind, you hate the mere idea of deliberately harming anyone, no matter what their intentions towards you are. Just consider that, if they attack you, you could kill them in self-defence._

_Just a technicality, I am sure,_ Harry replied, brooding. _And what about my friends? I doubt that they will want to be friends to a killer._

Ra pecked Harry very hard on his head. Harry said "Ouch!" and tried to grab the phoenix, but he had already disappeared and reappeared on the bed's headboard.

_Hey!_ Harry said. _What was that about?_

_Honestly, Harry, you should have stopped thinking that way months ago, when you told your friends the Prophecy,_ Ra replied.

_Can I still be worried about that possibility?_ Harry asked, a bit angry.

_No, because it isn't worth the time,_ was the phoenix's smug answer.

Harry rolled his eyes. _Cheeky phoenix._

_And proud of it._ _As long as you stop being that stupid, I might decide not to hit you again._

_'Might'?_

_Well, if there is a moment I want to have a laugh, I might just repeat the head-pecking, your face was really funny._

_Are you sure that you don't have a death wish, instead? Because I can make that a reality if you want,_ Harry replied. Instantly, he had created a ball of each fire, water, earth and air which were floating around the phoenix.

Ra rolled his eyes. _Cheeky brat._

_And proud of it._

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It took Snape two days to recover from his pain for enough time to wake up and be able to tell Dumbledore what had happened just before being pointed out as the traitor. Dumbledore had felt troubled when hearing that Voldemort had managed to restore the magic in the diary and that he had used it to revive his young self, to whom he was sure was going to teach everything about dark arts he could. It was also problematic the loss of their spy in Voldemort's camp, although he was glad that at least Severus had been rescued. He was still an appreciated Potions Master, as well as a confidant and a good counsellor, even if two out of every three answers he made came with sneers or demonstrations of his feelings towards the people they were talking about – the latter had, fortunately, been dwindling during the last months, ever since Sirius Black had come back from the dead.

However, there was still something that troubled both Dumbledore and Snape: the Dark Mark in the latter's left arm. None of them knew the extension of the power Voldemort had over the bearers of the Mark, apart from the ability to call on the Death Eaters by using one of the Dark Marks. Snape could remember that, when Voldemort had first been defeated by Harry, he had felt as if his magic was siphoned out of him, and had nearly fallen in a magical coma: they supposed that there was some kind of charm in it that allowed Voldemort to suck the magical energy within his followers if there was some kind of urgency. Fortunately, it seemed that he couldn't do it on purpose, because if he were able to do it on whim he would have already done it, to make sure Snape died.

That didn't tell them much, but considering Voldemort's ability to create small bursts of pain to call the Death Eaters, Dumbledore supposed that he might be able to concentrate and heighten that pain to drive Snape mad, and thus Dumbledore worked to find a way to rub out the Dark Mark from Snape's arm. They didn't meet with success at all in that part, until Dumbledore remembered something that could work out.

"Severus," Dumbledore asked, "I believe that there is something, or rather someone, that can help us in determining how to remove that from your arm."

"Potter?" Severus asked. Dumbledore nodded.

"He inherited a magical ability that allows him to invent and create magical spells with just some tinkering with magic. Do you remember the Mirror Shield spell I showed you this summer? Harry crafted it."

"He created that?" Snape said, impressed. He had been certainly surprised by how powerful that spell was. It certainly reflected anything save for the Unforgivables, as he himself had tested it.

"Yes, and several other charms, like the modified Stunner that keeps people out of combat for eight hours and its counter. I suppose that Harry might be able to find the counter to the charm Voldemort used to create the Dark Mark."

Snape seemed to be slightly discontent by that, but he resigned himself to that. "Well, I already owe him a life debt. Why don't I just make the fall down look complete? Just call him and ask him if he would be willing to help me."

"All right, Severus," Dumbledore said. He wrote a short message and called for Fawkes so that he could give the message to Harry. A few minutes later, two phoenixes appeared, and one of them transformed into Harry.

"What do you want, Professors?" he asked.

Immediately, Dumbledore told him the problem they thought would come with the Dark Mark in Snape's arm, and asked him if he could try to remove it.

"Hmm," Harry hummed. That seemed to be a hard problem. As far as he knew, the only way to do create a counter-charm was to see how the charm was, and how the magic felt when you cast the charm.

"I could try it, but I'm going to ask you something you might not like, Professor Snape. Would you mind showing me your memory of when you were marked?" he asked him.

Snape considered that. He didn't exactly like having Potter looking into his mind for a memory, but even he knew that Potter was honest enough not to look around at all.

"You wouldn't have to stand my presence on your mind for much time. You would only have to keep that memory in the out while the others are safe behind your mental walls," Harry added.

"I can accept that," Snape replied, "as long as you don't do anything save for looking that memory."

"I wouldn't do anything else," Harry said. "Get into your mind and tell me when you are ready for my presence."

"You can cast Legilimency on me already, Potter, it's easier for me when I have someone inside," Snape told the young man.

Harry nodded, and looked into Snape's eyes while thinking _Legillimens!_

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Harry – or his mental self – appeared in a green, lustrous grass garden, and he could do nothing but admire the level of detail in Professor Snape's mind representation. The grass had the soft touch of real, recently watered grass, and the air even smelt of cut grass. Then he looked around and saw, with surprise, that he was at Hogwarts.

However, unlike Voldemort's, Snape's idea of Hogwarts was very much like the real Hogwarts. The castle on itself seemed to be, from the outside, slightly darker and gloomier than the real one, but Harry supposed that was part of the older man's personality.

"I hope that I have passed your exam, Potter?" Snape asked him, having suddenly appeared into his mind.

"Well, it certainly beats Tom's," Harry replied. "Why Hogwarts, though?"

"Even with your father and his friends hexing me day yes and day not, I always felt like Hogwarts was my home more than where I lived with my parents.

"My mother, a pureblood witch called Eileen Prince, had gone to Muggle London looking for some novels when she collided with a Muggle man called Tobias Snape. He asked her out and she accepted, and after two years of courting they got married. However, he didn't know about my mother's magical upbringing until the day after the wedding. Soon after that, he started to show a bad side my mother had never seen: he started to insult her, and soon after I was born, he... his behaviour towards magic was very much like your uncle's, only that he expressed his feelings in a more physical way. My mother tried her best to shield me from him, but it didn't always worked."

Harry was surprised at hearing the Potions Master tell him about his young life. He knew that Snape was a very private person, and he was sure that there would be very few people who knew about his life, Dumbledore among them, so hearing him telling the son of the boy he had hated the most back at the school those things was slightly discomforting, to say something. He also felt some pity towards him, but he guarded himself from showing it, because he had been too many times on the other side of those looks and had always hated it.

"The reason I'm telling you this, Potter," Snape said, "is so that you can understand several things that happen in this memory. When I was at school, Voldemort had risen up and, with the help of several prominent purebloods like Abraxas Malfoy – Lucius' father – turning what had been a low-intensity conflict into a full-scale war between the two main factions in the British Magical world. Back then, I was friends with your mother, Lily, but after the incident you saw last year..."

Harry nodded, flushing a bit at the problem watching that memory had caused.

"... our friendship had been broken. She – with some reason – told me to forget her, and I made friends with several of my fellow Slytherins – namely Avery and Jugson. It was them that told me that Voldemort was recruiting from the school, and they asked me if I might be willing to join. I didn't accept immediately, but then my mother died.

"During the funeral, my father was detained by the Muggle police because he had been the one who killed her, but until the day before they hadn't been able to pinpoint the guilt to him. It was then when I accepted joining the group, because the anger I felt towards my father and the Muggles who should have tried to protect her was too big." He ended by putting a small vial into his hands, and Harry understood that this was what Snape used to conceal at least a part of his memories, so he concentrated and, like that time several months ago, he absorbed the memory and let himself look at it.

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_He had been Side-Apparated by Abraxas Malfoy himself, while Avery and Jugson were taken by their parents. The two of them had already been indicted into the 'group', they were just coming because it would be their first meeting as full Death Eaters._

_At first look, the place to which they had arrived – a castle – seemed to be ruined, but after Malfoy took him by the arm he could perfectly see the magnificent building rise over the land. However, his sharp look told him that there were several parts of the outer walls that were in great need of a good fix, because they were cracked, and moss was growing in the part of the wall that touched the floor. He could also see some light coming from one of the rooms in the second floor, which probably meant that Voldemort was meeting his followers there. Other than that, nothing said that there were people inside the castle._

_After going upstairs for several minutes, Abraxas opened one of the wooden doors at the side of the landing. Severus was right behind him, being followed by the Averys and the Jugsons. Upon entering the room, young Severus was surprised to see several people, wearing dark robes and white masks. In front of them, a pale-skinned man who seemed to have lost nearly all of the dark hair in his scalp and some at the sides stood, next to a throne. _

"_Good evening, my friends," he said with a cold smile that made Severus shiver. "We meet again in a very auspicious situation. As you know, the fight against the Mudbloods, the filthy Muggle-lovers and the fools in the Ministry who believe that we purebloods aren't the supreme beings is still going on, but they will fall soon on their knees, because even they know they are not worthy of being in the presence of any of you."_

_Severus heard then a dull roar coming from those people wearing masks, noticing too that Mr Malfoy was wearing a cloak and mask, too._

"_But tonight is also a wonderful night for us because one of our kin is about to join us in our quest to recover what is rightful for us. Tonight, a Hogwarts student, whose eyes and ears have clearly been opened from the drivel and lies the Muggle-lover Albus Dumbledore sprouts left and right. Abraxas, will you please bring the boy forward?"_

_Abraxas – who was, thanks to the mask, unrecognisable (_But that's the point, that they aren't recognised when they make their attacks_, Severus thought) – grabbed him by the shoulder and brought him in front of the throne, kneeling while telling the boy to kneel, too. Against his wishes, Severus knelt._

"_Is this the young man both you, Avery and Jugson have talked to me for the last weeks, Abraxas?" Voldemort said, fixing his dark eyes on Severus._

"_He is, My Lord," Abraxas replied._

"_What good would he do to our cause, considering that he isn't of age yet and he is still under the gaze of that meddling fool?" Voldemort asked._

"_My Lord, while all that is true, I feel that, with some training from some of us, he would be a perfect spy in Dumbledore's group. He has a natural ability with Occlumency which would only need an experienced teacher to teach him the most advanced things. Also, he is nearly an expert in potion making and well on his way to become a Potions Master: I supposed that he would be very welcome, considering our lack of people with that ability in our group."_

_Voldemort merely raised an eyebrow and looked to the young dark haired boy, silently casting _Legillimens_ on him._

_Severus didn't like it at all, and tried to protect himself from the invasive attack into his mind, but his natural defences weren't strong enough to stop someone as powerful as Voldemort was: however, he managed to go through the pain it was causing on him without flinching at all._

_Finally, Voldemort raised the wand and left Severus' mind. "He will be a very powerful wizard and Death Eater when he is older, and a great asset to our cause. Mulciber! You are to meet young Snape at Hogsmeade at least once a fortnight so that you can teach him Occlumency!"_

"_Yes, my Lord," the aforementioned wizard said, his head down._

"_Now, young Severus, raise and roll up your left sleeve."_

_He did so with trepidation, and when Voldemort pointed his wand into Severus' upper arm and said _Proteo Morsmordre! _the pain he felt was so big that he nearly fainted on the spot._

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The memory ended that moment, and Harry opened his eyes to see the dour Potions Professor looking to him.

"Hell, that was way too much for anyone, Professor," Harry said.

"Did that memory help you, Potter?" Snape said, almost unwillingly.

"It does in part, but I might need to take a 'trip' into Voldemort's mind to find how he does that charm exactly," Harry replied, truthfully. "I might have to try it on something else, but it should be easy when I find how it works."

"Well, then I think that you can't do much more in here, Potter," Snape said. Harry nodded and disappeared from Snape's mind.

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A short trip into Voldemort's mind (the dark wizard was still furious about Snape's disappearance, so it was easy to get inside and find the necessary information) helped Harry gain the memory where Voldemort managed to twist the Protean Charm around to create the Dark Mark. He certainly was repulsed by the mere idea of having to cast it so that his magic could give him answers to it, but he knew that it would only be once, and then he would be able to create the counter-charm to it, which was comparatively easier than creating the charm itself, but nonetheless would become a hard task due to its probable complexity.

For the tests on how to remove the Dark Mark, he asked the Headmaster to call the other Heads of House – Snape was still there –, the DADA Professor and Madam Pomfrey just in case some medical help was needed for either Harry or Snape.

"Albus, Severus, Mr Potter, I hope that you have a good excuse to call me here," Professor McGonagall asked, "as well as Filius, Pomona, Jonathan and Poppy."

"Minerva, we are here because Harry might need your expertise in several areas, as well as your presence as witnesses to Harry's attempt to eliminate the Dark Mark from Severus' arm," Dumbledore replied.

Martin, McGonagall and Sprout looked at Harry, Snape and Dumbledore in astonished turns, while Madam Pomfrey raised her eyebrows. This time, it was Flitwick who answered.

"How, Albus?" the small wizard said. "You remember that both of us researched and tried many counter-charms to make the Mark disappear when Harry first defeated Voldemort, but we weren't able at all, no?"

"Yes, Filius. However, considering Mr Potter's ability to create charms, I thought that he might be able to find something important. Would you mind telling us what you have discovered, Harry?" Dumbledore asked.

"Of course," Harry said, and with a hand wave he Conjured a blackboard and some chalk. "As far as I have been able to tell, Voldemort used a variant of the Protean Charm which he forced a Romanian Spell Creator to make. He had wanted to use it as a control system for the people who would follow him later in his life. His first group, the Knights of Walpurgis, were marked with a snake rounding a mountain, but since he felt that it wasn't enough scary, he changed it to a snake-tongued mask, and he then re-called his group of followers the Death Eaters.

"The most known thing about the Mark is that Voldemort is able to call all of his Death Eaters or a part of them through it, although since he himself lacks of a Mark, he needs a Death Eater to connect with his or her Mark and then he sends a short burst of pain so that he can tell the other Death Eaters he wants them.

"However, there are several aspects that Voldemort has kept to himself, mainly because he doesn't want his followers to know he has so much control over them. One of the most important things is that the design of the Mark, as it was done, allowed him as the main caster and controller to take complete control of any of the marked. However," Harry included, when he saw Snape pale even more than usual, "this process is very similar to a possession, and considering the wards in Hogwarts, I doubt that Voldemort wishes to spend that much energy on just bypassing them, because it would then leave him with not a lot of magic, thus making the attempt of possession practically impossible, especially if Professor Snape fights him. I'm sorry for this, Professor, but you won't be able to leave the school until you get free of that mark." Seeing Snape nodding, Harry continued.

"He is also able to activate a variant of the calling charm, only that he is able to concentrate the pain into only one person. This method, as far as I could tell, causes both the Death Eater whose Mark Voldemort is using to connect into the Mark network and the Death Eater at the other end a great level of pain. Again, Hogwarts' wards must have been preventing this, but you might have felt some pain in your Mark at some moment since you came back, if I am not mistaken.

"The mark also created a special bond between him and the Death Eaters, one of whose consequences is that he is always able to know, at some degree, where each of the Death Eaters are at any moment, provided that he is concentrating in them. It's most likely that the Fidelius Charm at the Order Headquarters prevented him from knowing where is it, although he could have known when the meetings were if he tried to find you and couldn't."

"Do you think you would be able to make the counter-curse now, Mr Potter?" Flitwick asked.

"No, Professor," Harry replied. "I'm going to have to cast it first on a living being. A conjured mouse would work perfectly, and when I know how the charm feels, I would be able to know how to counter it. It might take me some time, because it could have many levels of complexity tied into it."

"Take your time, Potter," Snape said. "As long as I can get rid of this, it'll be enough."

Professor McGonagall nodded and immediately Conjured a mouse in which Harry could practice the charm. Harry put a finger on the mouse and silently thought _Proteo Morsmordre!_. However, instead of a mask with a snake tongue, the mouse sported a lightning bolt on its back.

"Huh, it worked," Harry said, slightly surprised. While he knew that for the charm to work he needed to concentrate in some kind of mark, he didn't think that the lightning bolt would appear so detailed over the mouse's skin.

"Nice one, Mr Potter," Flitwick said, smiling. "Would you terribly mind if you could explain us what are you going to do to find the counter to the creation of the Mark?"

"I'll try to do it. However, most of the things I do are basically instinct-based and are not a part of an intentional process, so they aren't very easy to explain."

"Just do your best, Mr Potter. We would be very grateful, because there hasn't been a born Spell Crafter in centuries and reports about their abilities are sketchy at most."

Harry nodded and closed his eyes, searching into the bond he had just created with the mouse. He easily found the part that helped him control the calling charm, as it was of a dark red colour and stood out from the others. Also, when he 'touched' it, he saw that there was a small flux of magic from him to the mouse, and could feel the mouse twitching. He then spent a few seconds looking at it, and soon he got what he needed to break the calling charm: he would have to concentrate in the bond and make sure to recall all of his magic, at the same time he untethered the small drops of magic that acted as the anchor to the mark. Otherwise, the mouse would feel a lot of pain while he did that.

Then, he started to look at the other connections, which were all in dark blues and greens.

The first of them was a very dark green, which when he 'touched' it with his magic, he started to feel as if his conciousness was drawn through it. He left it alone, realising that this was the one about possession. After the customary look around it, he saw that this one was comparatively easier to eliminate than the first one, as it was just a matter of 'cutting' it with a sharp blast of magic.

The next one was the one that allowed Voldemort to concentrate more pain to send it into a Death Eater he wanted to torture from a distance. It was violet, a tone which it probably acquired as it mixed the calling charm and a high magic density channel (which were blue). This one could be eliminated like the first one, but he had to take care of the magic channel at the same time.

The next three would be slightly hard to break, but Harry knew he could do it, as he had been able to study them very well and, as the breaking wouldn't threaten either the mouse or him when he broke them, it would work out OK.

However, when he stopped at the last one, Harry was surprised. The colour of the last bond, which had been hidden by the others, was pure black, even blacker than coal, and Harry thought that it wasn't going to be a good thing. As he had a look at it and 'touched' it, he noticed that magic was fluxing through the bond. However, the magic was not his, but the mouse's!

It was certainly incredible how the charm the Romanian Spell Crafter had been able to come up with had changed the outcome of the whole combination, and Harry knew that the Dark Lord had not intended the last effect at all: apparently, the last part of the Dark Mark Charm allowed the caster of the Mark to absorb the magic from those on whom he had put the Mark on! It was a wonder that the Death Eaters hadn't died when he defeated Voldemort for the first time; probably, the reason why he had survived was that he had absorbed enough power from all his Death Eaters at once to counter the part of the reflected _Avada Kedavra _that would have sent his soul away to the spirits' world.

Harry supposed that the only reason Voldemort hadn't tried to suck the magic off Snape was because he hadn't known about that part of the charm, and he had only been able to access to it when he found himself in a desperate situation and tried to clutch at straws.

As Harry investigated that part of the bond closely, he realised that, no matter how much he tried, he wouldn't be able to cut it completely, because the ending was so deeply imbibed in the mouse's small magical core that eliminating it would cause a fast upsurge of magic through it and towards him before shutting out completely. However, he saw that he could cut the bond nearly completely and 'stick' the cut part back into the mouse's core, creating a loop that would send most of the absorbed magic back into the marked one.

When he finished the inspection of the bond, he slowly took himself out of the trance he had entered and opened his eyes, seeing the five expectant Professors looking at him. Harry blushed a bit at the attention.

"Sorry, but I had to have a look at the bonds the charm created between the mouse and myself," he explained.

"Is that what you normally do when you craft a spell, Mr Potter?" Flitwick asked.

Harry shook his head. "No, that was only because I needed to see what effects the charm had in my magical core and the mouse's. Normally, when I craft a spell, I only have to concentrate a bit of my magic between my hands and in the effect I want it to have. From there, it's normally easy to do since it's just a matter of feeling the magic as it goes out of you, but as this situation was different, it called for different methods.

"I was able to determine several things. I managed to detect those charms I talked about before, like the calling charm and the locating charm, which I think I already know how to counteract. However, there is something else in the modified Protean Charm Voldemort used that he didn't realise about at all, as it was an accidental consequence of the mixture of charms he had created.

"The Dark Mark, as it is cast by Voldemort into the Death Eaters' arms, creates a magical bond between the receiver and him of a very dangerous nature. Professor, did you feel something when Voldemort first 'died'?" Harry asked Snape.

"I nearly fell into a magical coma, much like the one you suffered last week, and I felt as if my magic was siphoned out of my core. Fortunately, that day I was in Hogwarts and Madam Pomfrey was able to patch me up before it became too late."

Harry nodded. "I supposed so. When Voldemort made the charm, he unintentionally turned it into a bond-creator that allowed him to pull magic out of the bond-wearers, but it can't happen the other way: there is a big chance that he isn't even aware of such a bond existing, or he would have either used it when someone turned traitor or in a fight to get more power from those who had already been captured. It is, most likely, the reason why he survived the first time."

"So, in order to stop Voldemort from surviving the next time, we would just need to erase the Dark Marks from the Death Eaters?" McGonagall asked.

"Maybe that would be enough. However, I found out that that bond can't be broken without activating it; only cutting it save for a small tendril and then sticking the cut part back into the receiver's core would work and would keep the loss of magic at a minimum," Harry replied.

"That would work well enough," Albus said. "If we managed to do it to enough Death Eaters, when Voldemort is finally defeated he will die forever."

"That's my hope as well, Professors," Harry added, inwardly cringing when he was reminded that he had to be the one to defeat Voldemort forever. To keep up with his attempt to tell Flitwick what he normally did to craft spells, he turned to the small Professor and nodded to him.

"As I know now which bonds exist between me and the mouse, which would be the same as the ones existing between Voldemort and Professor Snape, the next step would be to create the spells that would terminate with the bonds or, in the case of the magic-sharing bond, change it so that it is the less bad possibility. A few of them are easy to break, but in the whole it will be a difficult charm, since it has to weave all of the charms in one and they have to be applied with the correct timing so that they give the wished result."

Flitwick nodded, understanding what Harry was telling him. So far, everything seemed to be easy to understand, although he knew that it would be very hard to repeat, because very few wizards were able to look into any spell that affected them without using other spell or, for some fortunate or very powerful ones, mage sight. Harry's abilities allowed him to see everything in very good detail and was able to see through any obstacle, something that mage sight or special spells couldn't do.

"Since I have a good understanding of the bonds and I know how they have to be cut, I will practice them with the mouse, and I'll also try to find in which order they have to be cut, since the disappearance of one might overload the others; this will be a matter of trial and error, and it might take some time. Once I manage to find everything about the charms, I'll have to weave them into one charm that will apply all of the charms one after the other in the right sequence."

"How are you going to know that the charms are working correctly?" Professor Sprout asked.

"I'll be staying in a half-trance that will allow me to see the bonds and yet see what happens in here. That way, I'll know the effects of the charms on the mouse and the mark, and at the same time I'll be able to see the point my wand to the Mark."

Harry then fell into the state of half-trance after seeing that none of the Professors had more questions, and pointing his wand to the Mark, he cast the counter to the calling charm. Upon seeing that it had caused no problems to the mouse, he made a mental note: the first part of the Dark Mark Rubber was to be the calling charm.

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A few days later, Harry had managed to create a spell that could erase the Dark Mark – at least, his Dark Mark; he would have to try to test it on Professor Snape to see if it would work on Voldemort's marks. It had taken him much time, because it was slightly difficult to find the combination of charms that would work correctly. His first try, while it had worked well at the start, had finally ended with the mouse in big pain, and he had been forced to recast the Mark on it, which only formed the charms that had been erased. From there, it would be an easy matter, akin to the process he had followed when he created his first spells back at Grimmauld Place, to allow other people to use it. He knew that this would be very useful, as it would allow the Aurors to wipe the Marks off the other Death Eaters.

However, he still would need to test it on Snape, and that was why he was now in the Headmaster's office with him and the Heads of House, like a few days before. Snape had rolled his left sleeve, leaving the ugly Mark out in the air.

"Are you sure about this, Professor?" Harry asked.

"I've never been surer of anything else in my life, Potter," Snape replied. "Just do it. I'd like to get rid of this as soon as possible."

"OK. Just to tell you, this is going to hurt a lot," Harry said. Snape only nodded, and Harry pointed his finger to the Mark, and said "_Delere Protean!_".

In a few seconds, the drawing of the mark was being erased, its normally greenish black colour vanishing into light grey, and then it completely disappeared. Harry kept pouring magic over the connection Snape had with Voldemort, trying to break the bonds between the two of them. Then Snape gritted his teeth as the pain was starting to get stronger that he had thought it would be. It wasn't like a Cruciatus Curse, but very intense nonetheless, and it was concentrated on his arm.

Thankfully, the pain stopped after a few more seconds, and Snape managed to marvel himself at the look of his bare left arm, bare of the horrible skull-like tattoo he had acquired back when he was a nearly-seventeen-year-old boy, that had accompanied him for the last twenty-one years and which he had cursed ever since it was given to him. The feeling of happiness was too much for him, so he did the only thing his overwhelmed mind allowed him to do.

His eyes rolled and fainted.

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It sure seemed to be a great point to stop, don't you think so? Finally, Harry manages to rescue Snape, he gives Tommy-Boy a good kick in the balls (well, he didn't do that... pity, it would have been funny), knocking him out of the game for a few days/weeks, and he comes up with a way to erase the Mark off Snape! It has been a long week for the poor guy, I really don't like to make him suffer so much, but from now on things will only go better, I promise.

Several questions you might have:

How is it that Harry managed to get to a place not even Fawkes could reach? Easy, his Space-Time Element allows him to open a wormhole between any two places he can think about and travel through said places bypassing EVERY ward (at least, until someone is truly able to create a ward that stops that travelling way). For future reference, Harry won't be using that trick soon, because Voldie will change his HQ and will do his best not to stay in the same place for too much time (it would be pretty anticlimactic if Harry just killed Voldemort in an in-and-out attack, no?)

Why did Harry spend 'a few days' trying to make the Dark Mark Rubber (good name, don't you think so?) when it took him hardly a few hours to invent his Mirror Shield Spell? I think the jar analogy would work in here: it's easier to break the jar (put the Mark) than to put the jar back together (rub out the Mark).

Snape's past is, more or less, the canon one. I don't remember when Eileen Snape died according to JK Rowling, so I just wrote it so that it worked well within my timeline. And as for why Snape chooses Hogwarts as his mind-place, it's that Hogwarts was his home more that the one at Spinner's End.

I think that I am not going to keep running the small quiz, because hardly anybody seems to read the notice correctly: I've always said that you should send the answers IN A PM, but people, for some reason, decided to send it with the reviews, something that I think was a bit stupid since anyone who read them would learn the correct answer. Last chapter's correct answers were:

1: _The Seventh Horcrux_, by Melindaleo. The author correctly guessed that Harry's scar was a Horcrux.

2: The change was that they changed the order in which Lily and James Potter came out of the wand: in the first American edition, James came out first when the canon was that Lily came out first.


	25. Saint Valentine Makes My Day

Chapter 25

Saint Valentine Makes My Day

It was really a surprise for the students of Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft to see their Potions Professor walk around with something akin to a smile. It came out a bit crooked, but it was nonetheless recognisable as a smile by the student body. Even classes down at the Potions Lab were far more bearable, as the changes he had started before in the year went forward, making Potions a better experience for everybody.

The only ones that didn't like the change were the Death Eaters' children led by Theodore Nott, who knew that Snape had betrayed the Dark Lord for so much time, and thus had started a sort of rebellion within Hogwarts' walls. They constantly insulted the professors, bullied the younger students from all houses, disrupted every class they were in, and in total did their best to make Hogwarts an unpleasant experience for everyone else. No amount of points taken dissuaded them from what they considered their task, and they never presented themselves to any assigned detentions.

Snape had asked Dumbledore several times to restrain the moves of those children, as they were becoming more bold as time passed. However, Dumbledore said that nothing could be done about it unless they did something very serious, as the Hogwarts by-laws stated that students could only be restricted to their common rooms during curfew unless the student was seen committing what might be considered a lesser crime.

Harry and his friends, upon hearing that Dumbledore could do nothing to stop the harassing from the Slytherins, decided to start playing pranks on them. It started small, with their clothes turning pink or red and gold (Susan said that Parkinson seemed to be more scared at the red and gold than the pink) whenever they entered the Great Hall. That feature was expanded to every classroom and even the Slytherin common room after Colin Creevey caught them trying to hex his brother after he came back from Potions class.

The Death Nibblers – as they were being derisively named by the DA members – were never able to catch on the fact that every time they misbehaved a prank was pulled on them. Thus, they continued with their disruptive behaviour, and the thing started to escalate. Some of them would end up being humiliated even worse than before: Nott's appearance with baby's clothes in the Great Hall when he stepped in the day after he had tried to do a great injury to a Muggleborn second year from Hufflepuff (who was only saved because Susan and Hannah had been near when it happened) would be the worst that happened to them, but yet they didn't realise about what triggered the pranks.

Then, a few days after the prank on Nott, several portraits around the school were vandalised, and although the people in the portraits couldn't tell who had been, as they had been hooded, it was pretty obvious who had done it.

"Albus, there must be something that can be done to stop these students!" Minerva said, as she helped Argus Filch to take down one of the damaged portraits.

"Believe me, Minerva, I've been doing my best to find a way to restrict their moves, but unless they are caught by either a professor, the Head Boy or Girl or a prefect, I fear that we won't be able to do anything," Dumbledore said, his face sad as he realised the extent of the damage done to this last group.

"Then what do you propose we do, Albus? That we keep someone in every corridor until we catch them red-handed?"

Dumbledore was about to reply when he remembered one thing Sirius had told him that he and his friends had made several years ago, while they were at school.

"No, Minerva, but I think that I can get my hands on something that will help us do that," he said.

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During their next private meeting, Dumbledore raised the subject with Harry.

"Harry, I wonder if you would lend me that map your father made? The Marauders' Map, if I am not mistaken?"

Harry was surprised by the bluntness and knowledge the old wizard portrayed, although he supposed that either Sirius or Remus must have told him about it. After all, the Marauders' Map had been the best thing the Marauders had ever done.

"I wouldn't have a problem with that. Why do you want it?"

Dumbledore explained what he had thought of, so that the disruptive Slytherins could be stopped. Harry agreed to let Dumbledore use the map to catch them with the hands in the cookie jar, so to speak.

A few days later, some people were doing their best to hide in the shadows as they went through the corridors of the school. All of them carried his wand in the hand, and their faces were covered with black hoods. Then they stopped in one of the corridors.

"OK, we should keep on with our task," one of the boys said. "You five destroy those paintings on the left, and we will do those on the right."

"All right," a girl said, and pointed her wand towards one of the paintings, which suddenly developed a nasty gash. The occupant of the painting, a fair-haired young woman, sought refuge in the next painting, but that one was also attacked.

After a few minutes of this, a cat meowed and hissed to the hooded boys and girls.

"Damn, it's Filch's cat!" one of the boys said.

"Who cares about that bloody Squib? We can Obliviate him if he gets near us, and Dumbledore won't know a thing," the girl that had talked before said.

"I fear, Miss Parkinson," a grave voice said, making all of the hooded people turn around, "that I already know about this atrocity you were doing all along."

One of the other girls – there were seven boys and four girls in the group – gasped and tried to run away, but the only way of escape had been already cut by several other adults. Severus Snape and Minerva McGonagall were in front of them while Albus Dumbledore and Filius Flitwick. They had finally managed to trap the wayward students.

With a wand wave, Dumbledore managed to blow the hoods from the students' faces, revealing what they already knew. Theodore Nott, Pansy Parkinson and several other prominent Death Eater children had been hiding under those hoods.

"To my office. Now," Dumbledore said, his face showing the deep disgust and disappointment he was feeling towards these children, who were throwing their lives overboard without thinking of the consequences.

From the way the students were walking, it was obvious that they didn't feel ashamed of what they had been caught doing: in fact, they seemed to have enjoyed it, and they even talked happily about how many paintings they had destroyed that night and the others.

The gargoyle opened to let Dumbledore enter, being followed by the Slytherin students and the Professors. Snape in particular felt quite murderous, as he would finally have the opportunity to punish them accordingly to the level of disrespect they had shown towards him – it would be the first time ever that someone had surpassed Harry Potter in that scale in the last seven years.

Several chairs appeared in the office, enough for the students and the Professors to sit down.

"I hope that you have a good excuse for running around the school at 3 AM, wearing hoods and destroying so many valuable paintings that it will take a group of restorers several weeks to repair them, because I surely can not think of anything that would involve that," Dumbledore said, obviously disappointed with them.

"Of course, Headmaster," Theodore Nott said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "We were doing a great service to the true Wizarding World eliminating things that were paying homage to the false wizards, the blood-traitors and the Mudbloods."

"Mind your own words, Mr Nott," Snape said, interrupting him.

"I don't care about what you think, Snape," Nott said back at the Potions Master, "you betrayed the only wizard that really cares about true wizards and allied with a has-been and a brat who is only able to cry around and wave his wand as a fool while he waits for the Dark Lord to send him where he deserves to be."

All the portraits in the room exploded at once, telling the students off for being so disrespectful towards the Headmaster, a Professor and Harry Potter. Even Phineas Nigellus – Sirius' ancestor and the least liked of Hogwarts Headmasters of all times – joined in and said that Salazar Slytherin would be ashamed of them for their stupidity and lack of thought.

"ENOUGH!" the Headmaster shouted, and the Headmasters' portraits fell into silence. Then, Dumbledore directed his gaze towards the students.

"It's obvious that you can't be trusted to use any freedom given to you without abusing it. Your rule-breaking has reached a level I never thought was possible. Believe me when I say that I don't like to use this, but you have pushed my patience enough. From now on and until I consider it necessary, the seven of you will remain in total confinement."

Professor McGonagall's eyes opened a lot, but then she nodded.

"What?" Parkinson screeched.

"I suppose that all that running around in the dead of the night might have scrambled your brains," Snape said, "so I am going to explain it to you in words that even a moron would understand. You will stay in the common rooms at all times save for classes and one hour a week in the library. Your wand will be confiscated and only given to you during classes. You will eat in the common room. No extracurricular activities. No Quidditch. No visits into Hogsmeade. Nothing unnecessary that requires being out of the common room. And if you believe you can sneak out during the night, you'll find that the common room's door can be spelled so that it doesn't open to any of you unless there is a Professor near. And as for detentions, I think that Filch needs someone to do the cleaning in the upper rooms. Without magic, of course."

"Of course," Dumbledore said, and with a wand wave, all the students' wands came out of their pockets.

"What the hell do you think you are doing," Urquhart, the older of the eleven students, shouted.

"I am merely starting to apply the punishment you have earned with your attacks, Mister Urquhart," Dumbledore replied. "Surely you didn't think that you would be allowed to run around with your wands any more, no?"

Urquhart didn't say anything, but scowled at the Headmaster.

"Very well. This punishment will be held until this year ends or you really show remorse for your acts," Dumbledore stated. "Now, Professor Snape and I will take you back to your common room, and for your sakes I hope that you truly change your ways before it becomes too late."

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The next day, all the students were surprised to notice the lack of several students in the Slytherin table. Whenever someone asked one of the Slytherins about it, an answer related to the fact that they had gotten caught and they had been punished with total confinement – a punishment that had only been used once in the last fifty years, according to _Hogwarts, a History_ – and their wands had been seized. Some students were looking forward to get some revenge on them, but Dumbledore stated in that same moment that no one was to attack the missing Slytherin students, no matter what they might have done before. Harry also said the same to the DA, casually implying that by not doing anything they would be better than they were

The rest of January passed soon, as the punished Slytherins were very subdued by their lack of liberty, and also the first week of February. Ravenclaw played Slytherin during that time, and Slytherin, which was missing four players due to the confinement, lost miserably by 200-30, giving Ravenclaw the first position in the ranking, as Gryffindor had yet to play against Hufflepuff.

But the game wasn't to be played until March, at least, and in between the games there was a wonderful date for some and horrible for others. Saint Valentine's Day.

Since that year 14th February fell on Friday, the next day was a Hogsmeade visit day, and Harry was really looking forward to it. Last year's Saint Valentine's Day had been a very bad experience, because going out with Cho hadn't turned out to be as nice as he thought, but he supposed that he couldn't put the fault completely at her feet, since he also had a part in it. However, in part he was glad that that date had not gone well, as it had allowed him to find other girl that truly fitted him, and that was far more cheerful and funny than Cho was.

However, the fact that Saint Valentine's Day was the anniversary of their first (and last) date seemed to re-energize Cho's desire to get back with Harry, never mind that he had been doing his best to make it clear to her that he wasn't interested in her at all, and the fact that he was in love with Ginny seemed to either pass over her head or transform into the belief that Ginny was only a screen for his real love for her (Cho). Harry was really fed up with her, as the only thing her attempts to 'entice' him was to cut into his time with Ginny and, frankly, it really disturbed him that the Asian girl was so determined in following a wrong idea.

And poor Harry couldn't believe till which extremes she would go just to 'recover' what she thought was hers, but he would later suppose that he should have thought it might become to this.

It happened the 15th February, the Saint Valentine's Hogsmeade weekend, as Harry was having breakfast. He had just eaten some bacon and filled his goblet with pumpkin juice when he noticed that both his and Ginny's goblets didn't smell exactly like pumpkin juice normally did.

_What the hell is that?_ Harry thought, then she saw that Ginny was about to drink some juice. Not knowing what the unknown odour was, but believing it would be detrimental or unhealthy for them, he acted soon, before the juice could enter Ginny's mouth.

"Ginny, stop!" he said, holding her hand. Some of the juice fell from the goblet on her chin, which Harry immediately cleaned with his Water element.

"What's the matter, Harry?" she asked him.

"Have you not noticed that your juice smells strange?" he replied, putting the goblet back on the table.

"No, I didn't,"she said, then she sniffed the goblet. "I think that I can detect some overtones of rosemary and thyme in it. It is way too subtle to be noticed on a casual sniff, even for a lioness."

"I think I noticed because my forms are very dependant on smell in their lives," Harry replied. "Mine smells of clove, I believe. What do you think this thing is?"

"What's the matter, Harry?" Neville, who had just noticed that Harry and Ginny were discussing, asked his friends.

"There is something strange in our drinks, and we don't know what it is," Ginny informed him.

"Oh, come on, you could just have used the _Specialis Revelio_ charm for that," Neville said. "Don't tell me that you forgot that?"

Harry and Ginny looked at each other. Indeed, they forgot that they could use magic to ascertain what was in that liquid.

After thanking Neville, Harry brought his wand out of its holster and cast _Specialis Revelio_ on the pumpkin juice. What he saw intrigued him. The ingredients in his goblet had started to dilute in the juice, making the detection more difficult than normal and preventing him from knowing the quantities of each ingredient, but still it could be detected. Mandrake root, ashwinder egg, moonstone, peppermint and human hair, alongside with some other things that couldn't be identified.

**Any idea about this?** Harry asked Ginny. Even with all the time he had studied them and the Outstanding he had gotten in his Potions O.W.L., the knowledge of several potions still evaded him.

**Well, the ashwinder eggs are only used in one kind of potions, and those are love potions**_,_ Ginny said, suddenly realising what had been put into their goblets.

**A love potion?** Harry asked. **Who would have had the guts to...**

"Hello, Harry," Cho said, purring as she embraced him from behind.

**Never mind**_,_ Harry said. **Mind helping me, Gin?**

**Sure**_,_ she said. She took out her wand and pointed it at Cho's throat.

"Step away from my boyfriend, and I might consider not using you as a test subject for my best hexes," Ginny told the Asian girl.

"Oh, Weasley, I would have thought that you would have already run away. However, I think that Harry isn't your boyfriend, no, Harry?" she asked the dark-haired boy with a sickly sweet voice that made Ginny want to puke.

Harry's reaction wasn't what she had expected. He grabbed her forearms, tugging with strength to get free from her death grip and stood up, his eyes ice cold as they looked at Cho, who seemed surprised and fearful of how Harry was looking at her.

"Harry?" she asked.

"Miss Chang," Harry said, in a very formal tone. "Using a love potion on somebody else is not only forbidden by Hogwarts' rules, but also by law, unless it is recommended by Saint Mungo's Healers and only in cases of deep depression. Also, I have already told you several times that I have no romantic feelings for you. Perhaps before I thought we might be friends, but now I only can think of you with utter contempt for your apparent inability to understand English or your complete disregard for the health, mental and otherwise, of a fellow student, let alone two of them.

"As the potion hasn't even affected us, I will only dock Ravenclaw fifty points, and you are to serve three weeks of detention with Professor Snape. However, in my role as the official leader and professor of the Defence Association, I have no other choice than banning you indefinitely from assisting the DA classes until you can prove to me that your delusions over any feelings you think I have for you have finished."

"But, Harry, you can't do that!" Cho screeched.

"I think that any relationship between us is way below the level of familiarity that would allow us to use each other's given name when talking, Miss Chang," Harry replied, coolly, "and this last attempt to poison both me and Miss Weasley and try to force us to act against our wishes has been the last drop. Now, leave, before I decide to ban you from going to Hogsmeade, too."

Cho seemed to be about to reply again, but one look at his cold, burning eyes and she ran away, sobbing at the fact that her plan to snatch Harry out of Weasley's hands had failed. She was sure that Harry didn't really liked Weasley and that he was only with her out of pity or because she was opening her legs and Harry was too honourable to just leave her. She had managed to convince one of the house elves that Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley needed to drink those potions with their pumpkin juice and that he shouldn't tell anyone about it happening. At first, she was only going to use one on Weasley, to send her away from Harry, but later she decided to use it on both. Of course, she would let Harry go when he realised that he was free from that gold-digger and could come back with her, but until she was sure Weasley was well away from Harry, she would have had held him near her.

Now her plans had been wasted just because of a fluke. She would have to start again from scratch.

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"What were you talking about with Ms Chang at breakfast time, Mr Potter?" Professor Flitwick asked, having seen the discussion between the two of them and then the girl running away in tears, before Harry and his friends left for Hogsmeade.

"I fear that Ms Chang has tried to use a love potion on both me and my girlfriend, probably in a futile attempt to separate us and try to recover what she believes is hers, no matter that she lost her opportunity a year ago. She has already been punished with the loss of fifty points and three weeks of detentions with Professor Snape; since the potion didn't affect us, I judged it to be big enough to make her think about what she has tried to do, although I fear that she might try again."

"Very well, Mr Potter. I think that I might have to talk with her personally if she keeps behaving in such a way," Flitwick replied with a serious voice.

Harry shook his head. "I doubt that it would actually work, Professor. She had already been advised to let the matter go, but she keeps trying. However, I thank you for your effort."

"There is no problem, Mr Potter. Just go to Hogsmeade today and try to have some fun."

"Oh, I will, don't worry," Harry said, grinning. "I think that I am ready to have fun. Aren't you, guys?"

Ron nodded with a grin as he hugged Hermione tightly. Although he had taken her on a date to the town before, it was their first Valentine's Day celebration together. The day before, Ron had given Hermione a stationary set with several quills and various coloured inks, a small blank book so that she could write a diary and a box of chocolates. She had thanked him profusely, and right now they were going to have some alone time in the outskirts of the town (clearly avoiding Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop; it was too frilly for their taste) before joining their friends in The Three Broomsticks for a drink. The other two couples were ready to leave as well and had similar plans to them.

"Let's go. I don't want to miss one minute to be alone with Luna," Neville said.

Ginny giggled as she saw the extra-dreamy look on Luna's face as she looked at her boyfriend and started to tug on Harry.

"Come on, Harry, let's leave the love-birds alone and get some space for us," she said impishly.

Harry grinned back at her and the eight teenagers left the school among the sea of students that were going to the small town of Hogsmeade to have fun. He had planned to show Ginny a few things that they had not visited but that she might like, given her wish to be alone with him.

"We are meeting here in about an hour, OK?" Draco said, already going over his and Susan's plans.

"Deal," Harry said, and each couple went on his own.

Harry had decided to take her to the cave where Sirius had hidden two years ago, in the mountain near the town. It was a bit far away, but he knew that he could flash Ginny as a phoenix or ask Ra to take them both up. It certainly was a great place, because the landscape was truly amazing, and it gave them some solitude.

"I hope that you are taking me to a good place, Mr Potter," Ginny said, attempting to be threatening, but her eyes betrayed her mirth and joy.

"Oh, believe me, it's a really nice place. You will like it so much that you will beg for more days like this," Harry replied, teasing her.

"Then it better be good, because I intend this day to be a great day," Ginny said, winking at him

Harry laughed, and started to lead her to the outskirts of Hogsmeade, towards the small mountain range that housed the cave.

"Would you like me to take you on a flash?" Harry asked her.

"Is it too far away?" she asked.

"No, but it would nonetheless take us too much time to reach the place, and by the time we were up there we would have to start returning."

"Oh, sure then," Ginny said. After making sure that there was no one that could see him do it, Harry transformed into his phoenix form and landed on Ginny's shoulder, taking them to the small plateau in front of the cave.

"Is this where Sirius hid two years ago?" Ginny asked, remembering Harry telling her about that tale a few months ago.

"Yeah, but that's not the reason I brought you here," Harry replied, and he turned her around. Ginny was ecstatic at the beauty of the landscape from the place she was.

"Oh, this is so wonderful!" she exclaimed.

"That was why I brought you here," Harry said, hugging her from her back and kissing the top of her head. "I knew that you would love this place when I started to plan for today, so I flashed here once to clear this place a bit, so that the two of us could stay for some time alone, with no interference from outside people."

"I love it, Harry," Ginny replied, leaning into his embrace. "It's like a group of house dolls placed around so that I can play with my dolls and make up a story with them."

"I'm glad." Harry then kissed her at the base of her neck, exactly the point he knew would drive her mad. Ginny shivered with pleasure.

"Hmmm, Harry," she said with a husky voice. The boy smirked and brought her down as he sat down, sitting her on his lap as he kept kissing her girlfriend's neck, tasting her soft skin, while she felt as if small fireworks were exploding all over her body. It was too much for her, too much excitement, too much to stand it and not do anything.

She jumped over her boyfriend and started to kiss him, pouring herself in each move of their mouths.

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Fifty-five minutes later, after a vigorous snogging session in the top of the hill, Harry flashed Ginny back down so that they could meet with their friends in the Three Broomsticks. Ginny was leaning her head over Harry's shoulder as he passed an arm behind her back, to keep her near him.

"That was so nice," Ginny said with a dreamlike tone, much like Luna's in a normal day, "we should repeat it soon."

Harry chuckled and kissed the top of Ginny's hair, as they passed Dervish and Banges, the shop nearest to the mountain.

"Oh, Harry, let's go in here," Ginny said. "I want to see what they have."

"OK, boss," Harry said with a grin, and Ginny planted her elbow in Harry's gut.

"Don't take that tone with me, Potter," she said, "or you might find why Ron has never won against me in our fights."

"Pray tell, why do you always win against Ron?" Harry asked.

"I know all his weak points, and if he gets shirty all I have to do is to tickle him until he falls down from lack of oxygen," Ginny replied.

"Oh, that's good then, 'cause you don't know which are my weak points," Harry said, opening the door to the shop for her.

"Thank you," Ginny replied. "And don't worry about it, I'll find your weak points soon," she grinned.

"Oh, I am already counting on that."

They started to peruse around the store, as they wanted to find some things that any of their friends or themselves might like. Ginny had been planning to find something for her brother, since his birthday was going to be in a few weeks, while Harry was interested in seeing if they had a watch like the Muggle's ones, as he knew that normal magical watches were really difficult to understand. He asked the shopkeeper, but they didn't have any on stock, although he said that they were due to receive several watches in a couple of days and told Harry to send an owl in a week or so, and he would receive a catalogue with the kinds of watches they would have.

"Thank you very much, Mr Dervish," Harry replied, as Ginny approached the shopkeeper.

"I'd like to buy this," she said, bringing a small ball covered with runes and a chain.

"Aaah, Miss Weasley, you have indeed a good taste. That thing is the last one of my Pensieve Pendants. Father got lots of them back in the 20s, when they were in fad and many people bought them. But by 1925 they had fallen out of fad, and this is the only Pendant my father didn't sell."

"How does this work?" Harry asked.

"I suppose that you know what Pensieves do, no?" Mr Dervish said, and both Harry and Ginny nodded. "Well, this pendant works like a normal Pensieve, but it can only hold one or two memories at the same time. It was very popular because you could keep in there your best memories and, whenever you felt bad, you could grasp it and you would remember what you have in there. Not very taxing on your magic, but some people used it too much and just felt disconnected from the rest of the world."

Harry realised that, if he studied this thing, it might help him find a way to trigger happy thoughts within people whenever they fought Dementors. It might become quite important if he could make copies of this for its use in the future as an aid to the DA when Voldemort attacked the school.

Ginny paid one Galleon and fifteen sickles for the small artefact and both teenagers went out of the shop, deciding to go to the Three Broomsticks after having realised through the clock at Dervish and Banges that it was nearly time to meet their friends in the Three Broomsticks. They were walking towards the bar leisurely, embraced and with Ginny's head leaning over Harry's shoulder, when they started to feel cold.

An unnatural coldness.

"How did the temperature drop so fast in so little time?" Ginny asked, shivering and hugging Harry.

"This is not a normal temperature drop," Harry said, and he decided to open the Mind Hub.

**Guys, we've got a huge problem,** he said to the others.

**Hey, Harry, what's the problem?** Neville asked.

**Yeah, you interrupted a nice moment in here,** Draco stated.

**Have you noticed that the temperature has gone down?** Harry said, more pressed by the fact that something very serious could be about to happen in there than by whatever his friends had been doing.

**Now that you say it, yes, it's cold in here,** Luna answered. **You don't think...**

**Dementors. I think Tom is trying to launch an attack on us, since we are here in the town and there are no professors around.**

**Then he is going to send the Death Eaters behind,** Ron reasoned,** Voldemort would never send the Dementors alone against wizards, we have the Patronus Charm.**

**We are going to need some help from the Order**, Harry thought. _Ra!_

In a flash, the phoenix appeared in front of Harry and Ginny. _Yes, Harry?_ he asked to his wizard.

_I need you to take this note to Professor Dumbledore,_ Harry replied, conjuring up a piece of parchment and scribbling a note with a pencil, which he then gave to Ra. The phoenix took it with his beak and flashed away.

**I have already sent the alert to Dumbledore,** Harry told the others. **Hermione, use the coin to call all the DA members while the others get as many people as possible safe from the attack.**

**Already doing it, Harry,** a frantic Hermione answered, having taken her coin out of her pocket and spelling it to call on everyone in town.

**Harry, use a Sonorus charm and say everything, it'll make things easier if the whole town is told at the same time instead of us telling them one on one,** Draco suggested. **They are very likely to trust you, especially considering the whole "Chosen One" thing.**

Harry rolled his eyes at Draco's pitiful attempt to make a joke, especially since the situation they were in wasn't very conductive to that. He pointed his wand into his throat and whispered "_Sonorus_!"

"THIS IS A MESSAGE TO ALL THE PEOPLE OF THE TOWN OF HOGSMEADE!" Harry shouted. "THIS TOWN IS ABOUT TO BE ATTACKED BY DEMENTORS, PERHAPS DEATH EATERS IN A FEW MINUTES! PLEASE, THOSE WHO CAN'T OR DON'T WANT TO FIGHT EITHER TAKE THEIR MINISTRY-PROVIDED PORTKEYS OR GO TO HOGWARTS! THOSE WHO KNOW HOW TO USE THE EXPECTO PATRONUM CHARM ARE REQUIRED TO STAY, AS THEY WILL BE NEEDED TO REPEL THE DEMENTORS! PLEASE, ALL DA MEMBERS AND THOSE WHO WISH TO FIGHT, MEET IN THE MAIN SQUARE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, A DEFENCE MUST SET UP! THANK YOU!"

**Nicely said, Potter,** Draco said. **That certainly helped people feel more secure.**

**Shut up, Malfoy,** Harry replied. **It wasn't as if I heard you saying anything to try to tell people what was going to happen.**

**Guys, if you really want to argue, do it later, when there is no emergency about to need us,** Neville said. **Are you coming here or not?**

"Already here," Harry told his friends, arriving to the square, noticing that there were already a lot of people in there, as well as all the DA, even Dennis Creevey.

"OK, is anybody from the Order or the Ministry around?" Harry shouted, trying to make himself heard over the noise.

"I am here, Harry," Tonks said. "I was sent here to guard the town in case there was an attack from Death Eaters. I have already sent word to Dumbledore, and I suppose that the Ministry will already know about this, since people will have already arrived there with the Portkeys."

"Good, let's organise this. Can someone go to Honeydukes and get some chocolate here? We are going to need it if we want people to stay well when the Dementors arrive."

"Mr Flume already brought all of the chocolate he had on stock. Everyone is being given a couple pieces each right now."

"I'll have to make sure to thank him when we beat the attack back," Harry said. "People!" he shouted then, making sure that everyone could hear him. "Those who know how to use the Patronus Charm, stay on a protective circle around the remaining people. Those who don't stay back, but be prepared to rack some shields up if Death Eaters attempt to attack! Everybody, keep the chocolate ready for the Dementors' effects, we're really going to need it!"

Just then, several Aurors arrived by Portkey, lead by Rufus Scrimgeour, the Head of the Auror Office.

"Auror Tonks, what is the situation? We were warned that there was going to be a Dementor attack here.

"Greetings, Auror Scrimgeour," Tonks said. "According to Harry here, Dementors will arrive to this town in less than 5 minutes."

"How would Potter know the distance at which a Dementor is? And what are all these children doing here? They should be running towards Hogwarts!"

"If I may, Auror Scrimgeour," Harry said, "ever since my third year here at Hogwarts I've had an extreme sensibility to the presence of Dementors in my surroundings, and have developed the ability to detect them. As for these 'children', we have been training for things like these ever since we have started school, and we are more than adequate fighters for this kind of thing."

"Seriously, Mr Potter, do you really expect the Death Eaters to shoot only Jelly-Legs Hexes and Body Binds?" Scrimgeour replied on a slightly patronizing tone.

"The Defence Association knows full well how to use Cutting Curses, Reductor Curses and anything else that might help them in this war, we have recently gone over the use of conjuration to shield themselves from the Unforgivable Curses and they are certainly more fit than any of those Death Eaters, so I'm pretty sure that in a duel where stamina mattered any of the DA members would be able to beat even the Inner Circle. Also, how many people that know how to shoot the Patronus Charm have you brought?"

"Fifteen in total, all of them former Azkaban guards so they know how to do it quite perfectly," Scrimgeour replied, stiff.

"I have brought more than sixty people that know the Patronus Charm, and all of them have been able to cast it in the presence of a Boggart-turned-Dementor, which I assure you is as powerful as a normal Dementor is," Harry replied coolly. "We might be only teenagers, but every each of us is perfectly aware of the dangers we are facing, and know that Hogwarts might be attacked by Voldemort at any time, so we have taken upon ourselves to train for that eventuality. Now, let's drop this conversation because those Dementors are three minutes away, and we should start to launch our Patroni. Don't you think so?"

Scrimgeour blinked, surprised at the large speech Harry had done, and he had no time to answer before Harry turned away towards the Hogwarts students.

"DA!" Harry shouted, his wand held in his right hand. "PATRONUS CHARM!"

Harry pointed out his wand towards the Dementors (who could be seen at that moment as dark spots in the sky) and shouted, "_EXPECTO PATRONUM_!". A silver gas erupted from his wand, a gas that materialized into Prongs as it galloped towards the menace coming towards the town.

A thunderous, simultaneous "_EXPECTO PATRONUM_!" was heard from sixty-five throats at the same time, and a veritable zoo of silver animals ran, flew, jumped towards the Dementors, following the stag that was about to make contact with the leading Dementor.

Prongs started to fight the first Dementors, and for a few seconds it seemed to be overwhelmed by the large quantity of dark creatures he was fighting against, but then the Hogwarts' students Patroni joined the battle, turning the tables in favour of the Patroni, as each Patronus was able to hold off more than three Dementors, and Harry's could hold off more than ten, which wasn't surprising given that when he was thirteen he was able to defeat more than a hundred Dementors with his first fully corporeal Patronus Charm.

"Scrimgeour!" Harry shouted at the Head Auror, who seemed to have been spellbound by the efficiency of the Hogwarts' students' spells. "Get your men here with the rest of the town, Death Eaters will arrive here at any moment!"

Scrimgeour woke up and, without thinking, ordered the Aurors that had come with him to reply to this attack to stay in a protective circle around the children, and to stay ready so that they could use defensive spells once the Death Eaters Apparated.

A few minutes passed, in which the only things heard were the sound of the Dementors trying to get around the Patronus to attack on the people in Hogsmeade and the uneven breathing of some of the ones who had stayed to fight. Harry made the most of the situation by calling on his Elementals and order them to do their best to protect people if they were unable to defend themselves and to disable as many of the attackers as they were able to. It was then when Dumbledore arrived to the town next to nearly all of the Order.

"Harry, what's happening?" Dumbledore asked his student.

"I fear that the Death Eaters are getting bold, they must think they would be able to attack the town while us students were in here," Harry replied. "Just prepare yourselves, because they will arrive very soon."

Several POPs were heard then. The Death Eaters had arrived. There seemed to be nearly two hundred of them, all of them covered with their dark robes and white masks.

"DA! FALCON'S HEAD!" Ron shouted, and the Defence Association members pointed their wands towards the Death Eaters and fired the Bed Time Spell at the dark wizards. Nearly twenty of them fell down in the first volley, but the others managed to use a Shield Spell to stop the spells.

"Where the hell does Voldemort find so many people, damn?" Harry said as the Death Eaters started to attack the combined forces of the DA, the Hogsmeade population, the Aurors and the Order of the Phoenix.

"From what Severus said once, Voldemort was recruiting heavily among the dark wizards population of Eastern Europe, mainly from the former USSR, although I think there might be a few from Western Europe and the Americas," Dumbledore told him as he Conjured several rock walls to protect the students from being hit by several unknown curses.

As the fight got caught in an impasse, Harry sneaked a glance towards his right and saw, horrified, that the Patroni that had kept the Dementors at bay were disappearing, one by one, leaving only six or seven to hold back nearly four hundred Dementors. Harry knew that he wouldn't be able to cast other Patronus, as that would make the current one disappear, which wouldn't be very helpful towards the situation.

His mind was then assaulted by the memory of his conversation with Dumbledore last summer.

"_What about… I don't know… fire?" Harry asked._

"_Why would you say that?" Dumbledore asked, confused._

"_Well, all the times I have faced a Dementor I've felt coldness at first, and when my Patronus guarded me, it was heat that I felt. Maybe their weak point is fire, and I believe that if someone uses a strong Incendio charm or elemental fire, maybe it would destroy them."_

Fire could destroy Dementors, but it was difficult as one had to stay near the Dementor. Patronus charms could keep them away, but they couldn't destroy Dementors.

Finally, it clicked. A Patronus made out of fire would be able to keep the Dementors away and kill them! Several Patroni made out of fire would be able to destroy every Dementor out there!

**Guys!** Harry called through the Mind Hub. **I'm going to need you to take over the defence for half a minute, there is something I have thought of that will help us if it works!**

**OK**, Ron said, but Harry didn't pay attention, because he was already concentrated in something that could probably turn the tables against the Death Eaters forever.

As time seemed to slow down for him, those few that sneaked a look at Harry to see what was keeping him from attacking were surprised to see an spectacle, as Harry's hands and wand blurred and small bursts of magical energy erupted between his hands. The battle raged around him, but Harry didn't pay attention, while the Dementors neared the defenders of the town. Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Susan, Luna and Draco had launched other round of Patroni, and Dumbledore and a few other members of the Order did the same, but there weren't enough Patroni to keep all Dementors back.

After a ball of fire erupted into Harry's hands, which he compressed as if he were just making a parchment ball, he was ready to launch what could arguably be the most powerful spell he had ever cast in his life. He readied his wand, pointing it at the incoming Dementors, and started to concentrate in what was going to be needed to shoot this spell.

The feelings of happiness when he heard that he was a wizard.

Learning to fly.

When Gryffindor won the House Cup during the last five years.

Seeing Hermione recovered from the petrification.

Winning the Quidditch Cup in third year.

Sirius' offer to come to live with him.

The joy of having been able to be the fastest in the first task of the Triwizard Cup.

Recovering Sirius after thinking he had lost him.

The first kiss with Ginny.

His last birthday.

Last winter's Yule Ball.

Last Christmas, with his family and his friends.

The feeling that permeated him, about his happiness in all those times and the love he felt from the others, was everything Harry needed for his recently crafted spell.

"_IGNIS PATRONI_!" Harry shouted with all his strength, making himself heard over the noise of the battle.

Nothing happened at first. But then, something similar to a sucking noise erupted from Harry's wand's tip, and a small wave was seen exploding from the wand. All the Patroni that were still around – Harry's, his friends' and Dumbledore's – suddenly reverted their protective moves at trying to stop the Dementors and ran towards Harry, at breakneck speeds, jumping and entering the wand after turning into the mist it was normally before becoming corporeal.

The fight around Harry stopped momentarily as they saw the Patroni's strange behaviour, and what would happen then would become one of the milestones of the Second Magical War, the moment that historians would mark as the true beginning of the end of Lord Voldemort's attempt to take over the British Wizarding World.

With his wand seemingly exploding in a flurry of colours, illuminating the whole town of Hogsmeade, several figures came out of the wand, each of them made of fire, each of them having a different colour, but nonetheless made of fire. A white phoenix, a brown otter, a blue hare, a deep red horse, a black dragon, an orange terrier, a yellow bear, a silver unicorn and, last of all, an emerald green stag, jumped from Harry's wand and rushed towards the Dementors, who started to wail (a very strange sound that no one had ever heard in their lives, and that would never be heard again) and tried to run away from the fire Patroni, but the colourful animals were faster than them.

As the battle in the town stopped to see the magnificent fight hardly a few tens of meters from them (a moment during which several Death Eaters mysteriously fell down, drenched with water, their robes catching fire, the earth literally swallowing them or small tornadoes knocking them out), the Patroni tore into the group of Dark creatures and the Dementors' wails turned into screams of terror, as each Dementor that was encountered by one of the Patroni ended being destroyed, their black cloaks burned, their dark... well, whatever they had as a soul rendered into nothingness. As several small balls of light sprout out of the recently eliminated creatures – the souls of those people who had been kissed by the Dementors during the latter's lives –, the Aurors, the Death Eaters, the Order of the Phoenix and the Defence Association watched, amazed, how one of the most terrible and dangerous living beings that had ever existed were drawn into extinction thanks to Harry's charm.

Once the last Dementor fell down and died, the field was totally silent, with only some burning fires in the town, caused by wayward curses and the Death Eaters attempting to destroy the town, crackling and eating away the unfortunate buildings that had been in the way.

Harry, who had closed his eyes as he breathed deeply, was being stared at by everyone in the town. Even Dumbledore and the Death Eaters were looking at him as if he were some sort of god: the destruction of all the existing Dementors in the world was nothing a normal person could do, only an extremely powerful person would have been able to do it.

Then, Harry opened his eyes, and his eyes, filled with green, burning fire, were directed at the remaining Death Eaters. All of them were suddenly far more afraid of Harry Potter than they were at their Lord, and the fear overwhelmed them to the point that they stood there, still, afraid of moving even an inch from their positions. Harry raised his hand, and with a small flick of his hand, one of the Death Eaters was hit by a reddish light and fell down, unconscious.

With a roar, all the Defence Association jumped into action and started to curse the Death Eaters, knocking out more than a third of the remaining Death Eaters in a matter of seconds before the Aurors and the Order reacted as well and followed the example of the students. It took some time for the Death Eaters to react, and by the time they did only a tenth of the attacking force was still in conditions to actually do something, and instead of continuing with the attack, they decided to take their chances with Voldemort and leave the battlefield. Instead of using their Portkeys (which had again been destroyed by Harry's elementals) they Apparated away, leaving their fallen comrades into the hands of the defenders.

Harry smiled tiredly. The spell he had made up on the spot had taken a lot of magic from him: it wasn't enough to provoke an EME, but he still needed to rest after the battle.

**Gin**, he asked his girlfriend, **do you want to come with me?**

Ginny slowly approached Harry and hugged him carefully, as if he might break from the effort he had put into the battle, and suddenly Ra appeared and flashed the young couple to the Gryffindors' secret room in the Founders' Lair.

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In an enclosed room in Saint Mungo's hospital, several people started to wake up, many of them wondering what had happened to them, and asking themselves why were they in the magical hospital, with the last thing they remembered being a mouth without lips before everything went black.

It was one of those people, with a pale face and straw-coloured hair, that recovered among the first from the confusion the sudden recovery of so many patients caused, and took advantage of it to sneak out of the room, of the hospital, and then, with a maniacal grin, Apparated out of the hospital.

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Chapter 25! And it's been 5 months since my last update! I am really sorry for such a long wait, I can hardly give excuses, as I should have updated before, but between the writer's block, university and several social things I haven't been able to write more and faster. However, I hope that this chapter is enough to satisfy you till the next one arrives.

The destruction of the Dementors was a thing that had been planned a few months ago, and I knew that the fact that Harry is able to craft his own spells would be instrumental in this situation. The spell is very powerful, so there might be unintended consequences of such a discharge of magic for Harry. They will be resolved, however, so don't fret.

As for the last scene, I had wanted the people given the Dementor Kiss to revive and recover their souls. Of course, many people have already died since they were Kissed, but some have managed to survive for so long without their soul. 10 House Points to the one that guesses who escaped.

Please, review, it's very important for me to see that you care about the story.


	26. Apocalypse Never

Chapter 26

Apocalypse Never

At an old mansion in the south of England, Voldemort was raging around, throwing spittle into his surroundings as he hissed many painful and destructive curses, which were – fortunately for the few Death Eaters that had been valiant enough to stay in the room after their lord had been told of the Dementors' destruction – being thrown at the ugly statues in the room. Not that Voldemort actually threw them there: his diary's past self, Tom Riddle, was using his wand – crafted specially for him by a foreign wand creator – to make sure that no one was hurt: finding willing bodies to throw them at the Aurors and Hit Wizards was becoming hard enough to do for them to be hurt in painful ways and remain in the infirmary for several days.

"_That stupid, obnoxious brat!"_ Voldemort kept hissing, imagining that Harry Potter was in front of him so that he could keep him under torture. "_I'll make him eat his wand, and then I'll make him eat his own intestines while I torture his friends in front of him!"_

"_Calm yourself down,"_ Tom hissed back at his older self in irritation. He nodded to the few Death Eaters that had stupidly remained behind so that they left and they made the best of the situation, letting the strange boy deal with their Lord: after all, if he wanted to get cursed, then he was welcome to it, as long as it didn't affect them.

Voldemort was still blasting several statues away, not noticing that his minions had run away from the room, when Tom launched a minor hex at the snake-faced dark lord, who immediately turned to him, his red eyes showing the fury he felt. Tom rolled his eyes.

"_Will you just calm down," _Tom repeated, casting several protective charms that would stop most of Voldemort's spells from hitting him. Fortunately for him, Voldemort managed to hold his anger down.

"_And what exactly do you suggest we do, kid?" _Voldemort asked, not caring about the fact that he was basically insulting his younger self. Tom decided to ignore the 'kid' part.

"_I would certainly not try to kill our followers," _Tom stated. "_Even if they are a set of incompetents and ignorants, they are our main weapon against the Ministry fools."_

"_Our followers? Our main weapon? Might I remind you that it was I the one who brought all those people here and that it is I they owe allegiance for?" _Voldemort replied back.

"_Maybe,'_ Tom answered, "_but might I remind you that we are, essentially, the same person in spite of having two different bodies? And I do know your little plan with the Weasley chit to get her knocked up and then possess the child's body."_

"_How do you know that?" _Voldemort asked, furious. No one knew about that plan. He had kept it to himself, and wouldn't reveal it until he had Potter and the Weasley girl, so that he could torture the first with that knowledge before finally killing him.

"_Easy, we practically share the same soul, although it is broken in two parts, and that gives me a very good entrance into your mind," _Tom replied, an infuriating smirk on his face.

What Tom had said struck something within Voldemort's mind, but he let it pass as he was still arguing with his other self.

If only he had known that that comment was the clue to understand how the Order of the Phoenix had discovered all of his plans, he would have surely taken advantage of it, but as he didn't, the missed opportunity was completely lost to him.

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At the same time this scene was happening, and away from all the fuss Harry had caused that afternoon, Ginny Weasley was happily snuggling against the perfect body of her perfect boyfriend, dreaming of what the future would bring for the two of them, especially once Harry finally beat Voldemort. She imagined the perfect wedding, even: just the family and a couple of friends, in the orchard behind the Burrow, and Harry dressed in a very smart and attractive suit while she walked towards the aisle, on her white dress, as Harry ate her with his eyes.

But that was still in the future: Voldemort was still alive, and would probably be very angry when he realised that the attack he had ordered against Hogsmeade had been a total failure, and she was hoping that Harry would manage to avoid the part where he would see what Voldemort was doing, because it always killed her from the inside to see Harry suffer so much and being unable to help him.

Propping herself up with her elbows, she looked at Harry, who was still sleeping, with a small smile on his face. Ginny was happy to see him smile, and was secretly pleased that she had something to do with it. As she studied her boyfriend's face, and fantasized with what was held hidden under the robes Harry was wearing – which she knew was really well built, having felt it so many times during their snogging sessions through his clothes and knowing how much time he had put in those machines – she noticed that he was stirring, which signalled that he was about to wake up.

"Hello, handsome," Ginny said, slipping his glasses on his face as she kissed him on the cheek.

"Hello, beautiful," Harry replied, thankful for the glasses, as he could see Ginny clearly with them.

"How are you, Harry?" she replied, worried.

"Tired, but better than before coming here," Harry replied. "What time is it, anyway?"

"Past dinner time, I think," Ginny said. "You must be hungry; you have not eaten anything since breakfast."

"As well as you," Harry replied, and was rewarded by Ginny's stomach growling. Ginny gave a weak laugh.

"Do you feel like going to the kitchens?"

"There is no need for that. Dobby!" Harry called. With a _POP!_, the hyperactive house elf appeared in the room.

"What does Harry Potter needs me for?" he asked.

"Would you bring both of us something for dinner, please?" Harry asked.

"Anything for Harry Potter Sir, and his Wheezy Lady!" Dobby said, and disappeared to the kitchens.

As Harry turned to Ginny, someone knocked on their door.

"Harry! Are you there?" It was Hermione.

In response, Harry waved his hand and opened the door. Immediately, Hermione launched herself over Harry and hugged him for all it was worth.

"Easy there, Hermione, you will break my ribs if you don't let loose," Harry said, half-joking, because the pressure his nearly-sister was applying to his rib cage was incredibly hard, proof that she had been putting a lot of time in the fitness machines ever since he bought them.

Hermione laughed a bit and let Harry go, but then she bombarded him with questions.

"How are you? Are you tired? How come you didn't suffer from SME, that charm of yours had to be really tiring, and how did you come up with that? Did you Craft it? Or did you find it in some book? How..."

"Hermione, breathe, breathe! Harry won't be able to answer if you don't let him!" Ron said, taking his girlfriend's hand into his. "In. Out. In. Out."

Harry smiled as Ron used the Muggle relax method to calm Hermione.

"To answer your questions, I am fine, only a bit, I didn't spend enough energy to suffer SME, it just came to me that I needed to destroy the Dementors, yes and no," Harry answered.

"How exactly did you manage to destroy the Dementors? If I am not mistaken, it was considered impossible by the Department of Mysteries," Susan asked, as Harry walked into the central room.

"Well, last summer Dumbledore managed to use fire and destroyed a couple of them, but he said that it was really difficult because one had to stand really near the Dementors to kill them, and I suppose that made the whole effort impossible. Since the Patronus Charm can attack Dementors without much problem, it was the effort of adding two plus two."

Just then, Dobby appeared with two enormous trays with several dishes on each of them.

"Wow, Dobby, I just asked for some food, not for a banquet," Harry said, overwhelmed.

"Harry Potter needs to eat a lot to recover, Harry Potter Sir. Harry Potter spent a lot of magic destroying the Dementors, and he needs lots of food to recover!" Dobby exclaimed, before leaving the room again.

"He is right, Harry," Ginny said. "Just eat. I'm sure my brother will be glad to eat something more."

"Hey!" Ron exclaimed, outraged at Ginny's jab. Harry ate a couple of lamb ribs and downed a glass of water before starting to ask questions.

"Did something else happen in Hogsmeade after we left?"

"No," Susan said. "It was mostly cleaning duty, and Scrimgeour – the Head Auror – was asking questions for the report. I think there was a journalist around, and I think I heard some talk about Dumbledore cancelling Hogsmeade visits for the year. There were even a couple of rumours about the Ministry evacuating the town until Voldemort disappears."

"And where do they plan to keep the people?" Ginny asked, astonished.

"No idea. There is the chance that Dumbledore might offer them asylum in Hogwarts' grounds, but I don't know how they would handle the Floo through the school wards, as well as all those people having to Apparate to their work in the Ministry or somewhere else," Hermione said.

"He is the Headmaster, I think he can control the school wards and decide who can get in or out. The ones that stop Apparition and Portkeys are always in place, but he shouldn't have any problem changing the wards to allow Floo travel for those that are from the town," Draco reflected.

"Let's hope that everything goes well, I really wouldn't like for all those people in Hogsmeade to die if they come to Hogwarts and Voldemort attacks," Harry said, grimly.

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_**DEATH EATER ATTACK IN HOGSMEADE REPEALED!**_

_Dementors destroyed, say eyewitnesses_

_Written by Nick Haydyn._

_Yesterday, February 15th, Hogwarts's students were having fun during what they hoped was a peaceful Saint Valentine's Day celebration next to their sweethearts in the nearby town of Hogsmeade, when a group of Death Eaters, accompanied by You-Know-Who's Dementors, decided to attack the town, no doubt expecting little resistance from the students and the Hogsmeade residents. However, they didn't count with the fact that the Boy-Who-Lived, Harry Potter, would be one of those students enjoying his free time with his girlfriend Ginevra Weasley._

_According to several witnesses, a few minutes before 1 PM, Harry Potter was heard shouting about several Dementors nearing the town, and immediately organized a defence in the main square. Ministry Aurors would soon arrive to the town – thanks to the Defensive Regulations jointly devised by the Auror Office and the Department of Magical Transportation – and help Harry Potter and a big group of students protect the town from the attack of several hundreds of Dementors, and every student managed to cast a totally corporeal Patronus!_

_Yes, you have read well: sixty teenagers were able to cast a charm that most adults aren't even able to do! When I interviewed Hogwarts Headmaster Albus Dumbledore and asked him about this surprising event, he said: "Harry, knowing that the school would always be in danger of being attacked by You-Know-Who," here Headmaster Dumbledore used You-Know-Who's true name, but in deference to our readers, we have changed it to his nickname, "took it upon himself to teach to part of the school body a series of defensive and offensive charms just in case the Death Eaters tried to attack. One of those charms was the Patronus Charm, which is something I'm proud to say Harry taught them very well."_

_And not only the Patronus Charm was taught to these students. From what Hogsmeade residents like Madam Rosmerta Christie, owner of the popular tavern The Three Broomsticks, could tell, the students had an impressive repertoire of spells, which they used with great precision against the Death Eaters that, a few minutes after the Dementors reached the town, Apparated there. Soon, a good part of the attacking force had fallen to the students' spells, and many more would follow during a fight that, fortunately, ended with no deaths, although Hogsmeade was partially destroyed due to the many spells that were being thrown between the two sides of the battle._

_As the battle raged, the Patronus Charms fell, letting the Dementors go towards the town, without doubt to try and Kiss the townsfolk and the students, but once more Harry Potter saved the day, using an unknown spell that absorbed and then powered the still living Patroni at a point that it actually destroyed every single Dementor in the place. Something that was thought to be impossible, as the Department of Mysteries reported during the First War against Voldemort._

"_It was amazing," says Hannah Abbot, Hogwarts' student and one of the defenders of the town, still very nervous and riding on the adrenaline wave. "We were – you know – throwing all those Stunners, Cutting Curses and everything else, when I saw Harry doing some movements with his hands, there were some explosions, fire, and then he just pointed his wand, shouted something – I couldn't understand it well, I think he said 'something Patroni' and then all the Patroni rushed towards him and then they came out, but they weren't silver mist any more, they were pure fire of different colours, and when they hit the Dementors, they just snuffed it!"_

_After the destruction of the Dementors, the defenders finally managed to defeat the Death Eaters, who fled from the town leaving more than 100 of their own in the field. It has been reported by the Ministry of Magic that a good percentage of the captured Death Eaters are of foreign origin, and are being sent mostly to the new, secret Ministry Prison while the least dangerous of them are sent to Azkaban Island, which remains being the place where those receiving lesser sentences go._

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_**ALL KISSED PEOPLE RECOVER!**_

_Related to yesterday's battle in Hogsmeade_

_Written by Matthew Saint-Christopher_

_According to sources in St Mungo's Hospital of Magical Maladies and Injuries, every still-living person to have been kissed by a Dementor suddenly recovered yesterday in the afternoon. Apparently, one of the Healers was checking out the health of one of the Kissed people when she shook her head and started to look around in amazement, before asking where he was. This was repeated among the twenty-five people staying in the wing, and soon it became established that all of them had fully recovered save for the fact that they had no memories between their being Kissed and the present day. _

_This is thought to be related to the destruction of every existing Dementor yesterday, during the battle of Hogsmeade, by Harry Potter (see page 1 for more details), as witnesses relayed having seen small wisps of light coming out of the destroyed Dementors, which the Unspeakables of the Department of Mysteries were able to confirm, through the use of Pensieves, to be the souls of the Kissed people._

_However, during the distraction, the only Death Eater to be given the Kiss and remain alive, Bartemius Crouch Junior, managed to escape his confinement in St Mungo's Hospital in the confusion. The Department of Magical Law Enforcement believes him to have already joined You-Know-Who's forces and prevents everyone not to panic in spite of this change._

"_We aren't saying that Barty Crouch Jr__ isn't dangerous," Arthur Weasley, Head of the DMLE, stated in a press conference held in the Ministry yesterday evening. "We are only reminding the people that, in spite of this change, they still have the means to escape an attack. Always keep an eye on those means, please, and make sure you warn the authorities if there is a need for them."_

_Upon being interviewed, several of the recovered people's relatives stated their wishes to thank Mr Potter for his deeds and his role in helping the people to recover their souls and being given a new chance in life._

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Indeed, as Harry had feared, by the end of the week the Minister for Magic dictated that the town of Hogsmeade was to be evacuated as soon as possible, because the security risk it presented was too high. Several of the people in the town went to live with their relatives in other parts of England, and a few even left the country for Ireland or France. However, most people accepted Dumbledore's offer to let them stay in the school grounds, in a temporal town that resembled the real Hogsmeade, but was far smaller than the real one. Student visits into the makeshift refugee town were only allowed every few weeks, so that they didn't try to spend the whole day in there and stop paying attention to their studies, but at least this time the first- and second-years were allowed to go there: since the town was protected by Hogwarts's wards, they weren't in danger of getting lost or similar.

The town dwellers did their best to get used to their new living arrangements. Their lives went on mostly as they did normally: they bought food at the same shops, they went to work using the Floo network, they went to the local pub when they wanted to talk with everybody else, and basically everything they did before the attack.

However, the recent changes had affected their lives forever: the Death Eater attack, although it hadn't harmed them at a personal level, it had shaken them really bad. They had just realised how close war was to them: war had in fact stepped over their grounds like a badly-behaved child, and it had only been thanks to Harry Potter and his friends that it hadn't come to more. Still, the fact remained that it was obvious to them that war had come to them, and, if they were to survive the fight, then they would have to act.

That was why, three days after the Hogsmeade Battle, all the remaining Hogsmeade denizens – currently living in Hogsmeade-in-Hogwarts – decided to send Aberforth Dumbledore (owner of the Hog's Head pub, and Albus Dumbledore's brother), Madam Rosmerta (owner of the Three Broomsticks) and Ambrosius Flume (owner of Honeydukes) to Hogwarts in order to have a talk with Headmaster Dumbledore.

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"Abe! What are you doing here?" Albus asked his brother, hugging him. Aberforth smiled as he returned the hug.

"We are here because we want to talk about a couple of things, Albus," the barman replied. "Mainly about the town denizens and some worries they have regarding the Death Eaters."

"Don't they feel secure in here?" Dumbledore asked.

"No, in fact they feel far more secure than before," Madam Rosmerta said. "Sure, the wards may make Floo travel to the Ministry a bit difficult, but people feel better with them. We have come here because the people wish to train."

"Not only to train," Mr Flume stepped in, "but to be able to fight the Death Eaters at a level on par to your students. I know that some of us are not at an age where magical fighting comes easy, but we still have a couple of years that we can put into good use. We know that You-Know-Who is going to try to attack Hogwarts, and we wish to help defend the school as your students helped to defend our town."

Albus was mildly surprised by this request. He knew that they might wish to do something in order to help with the eventual attack on Hogwarts, but, actually training for the fight... that was not something he would have expected from the Hogsmeade inhabitants.

"And you say that everyone in the town wants to train?" he asked.

"Well, of course there are the children, whom we would like to ask sanctuary for, and there are some elders who can't move with enough speed to be of any use in a fight, but they perhaps would be willing to stay with the children alongside any of the Professors you might be willing to spare," Mr Flume said. Albus had a sad smile in his face.

"Well, I think we could arrange some plans. Would you be willing to learn under Harry Potter's tutelage?"

Abeforth snorted. "I've had more than one hundred years of self-education, all of them well spent, but... If it were any other of your students, I might reject the offer, but after seeing Potter's display with the Patronus, I have to say that I'll be glad to learn what he can teach us."

"I agree as well. I've heard rumours of Harry's ability as a teacher, and I'd like to see whether those rumours are correct," Madam Rosmerta said.

"Very well. We'll see what Harry has to say about this," Dumbledore replied.

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"Welcome to Beating The Crap Out Of The Bad Guys 101," Harry said in his first class with the Hogsmeade adults, which was being held at the same time as the Beginners DA, and in the Great Hall, as there were too many people, and he didn't really want to force them to have to go seven floors up in order to enter the Room of Requirement. Many of the students, and several adults as well, laughed aloud at Harry's choice of words.

"In here, we are going to teach you several new spells, as well as the most efficient way to use them. Although part of these might be thought to be useless, you'll find that even the most harmless spell, like a Jelly-Legs Jinx, may be used in the middle of a fight and distract a Death Eater for long enough to knock him out for good.

"Unfortunately for many of you, you won't be able to join us in our physical training, mostly because I doubt you have managed to do a continuous long running in years. Not an insult, just an appreciation.

"Considering the fact that, probably, many of you have or had jobs related with specific skills, that could be useful for us, I'd like you to separate in four groups. Those who have medical skills to the left, then those who know how to fight, then those who would rather help in defence and the remaining ones to the right."

Harry watched as the Hogsmeade inhabitants separated themselves into several groups, according to the distinctions Harry had asked for. The young raven-haired man saw that the group where he would be teaching, the ones that would form the special attack group, was the second biggest, just behind the defence team (which were going to be taught by Draco and Hermione), and the healers team was next in size (Ginny and Luna would take charge of them) leaving Ron and Susan with the ones Harry had dubbed 'support crew', but it wasn't an attempt to disparage them: their job would be as important as the others, as Harry knew each part of the army they were mounting would be as important as the others.

Harry nodded at Neville and the two went towards the attackers group.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen," Neville said, easily stepping into his role as teacher to the adults in front of him. "I am Neville Longbottom, and this, as you already know, is Harry Potter. Together, we are going to show you several techniques that will help you a lot in the event of a future attack upon you. You will learn how to do teamwork, how to hit an enemy with accuracy and how to use your surroundings to your own advantage. However, the main reason this group is being formed is so that we can teach you how to survive, no matter what you have to do with your enemy. Even killing him, if necessary, although we truly hope that that is only used as a last resource."

"Wouldn't that make us as bad as them?" one of the people asked.

"That's why we are stating that it should only be used as a last resource. Let me ask you this question: if you see a Death Eater torturing someone from your family, and the only way to stop him is to kill him, would you do so?" Harry asked. Silence was the answer.

"Very well, the first thing we will teach you is how to point out with accuracy," Harry said, and brought out his wand to conjure several bull's-eyes. "I suppose that you know how to use the Stinging Hex, no?" Seeing the nods around him, he continued: "You are to use them on those bull's-eyes and attempt to hit on the centre as many times as possible. At the start it won't move, but as you hit it, it will start to move. If you are able to hit it enough times as it goes at top speed, then we will be able to move on."

The people nodded and started their tasks. Harry saw that some of them seemed to already have good hand-eye coordination and were hitting the bull's-eye with good accuracy, not always in the centre, but nearly. However, part of the others didn't seem to have that ability, and so Harry and Neville started to mingle among their 'students', correcting their positions and their grips, which in most cases helped the people to improve their accuracy.

"What do you think, Neville?" Harry asked his friend.

"Well, they are very eager to learn from you, Harry," Neville said.

"You as well, Neville," Harry replied. Neville shook his head, smiling.

"No, Harry. Well, they hear my advice and they accept it, but I think that they do it because they know that you have taught me. They really look up to you, mate."

Harry didn't know what to answer to this, so he decided to drop the conversation and started to make the 'rounds' with his friends.

**What do you think, guys? **Harry asked through the Mind Hub.

**Our group didn't seem to like the fact that they were going to play instruments,** Susan said.

**They really warmed up to the idea when we showed them that music carries a magic of its own,** Ron added.

**The medics already knew most of the basic spells and we are starting with medium spells. They are going to be the ones who develop the fastest, if I am not mistaken,** Ginny reported.

**Well, defence isn't exactly these people's forte,** Hermione said. **They have the magical strength to create the shields, but they really need a lot of training.**

**What Hermione is trying to say is that these people's reflexes are pitiful,** Draco stated. **There is no need to sugar-coat it, but yeah, they are going to need a lot of training if they want to have a chance to survive.**

**I'd hit you if I were near enough, Draco Malfoy,** Susan warned her boyfriend.

**Hey, hey, no fights!** Harry warned his two friends. **_The Hub isn't here for fighting, __e__specially when we are trying to help these people how to survive!_**

**_Yes, Boss, _**Draco replied, and Harry could almost hear the smirk on his face. He decided to let that cheek pass and started to think.

_We really need something that will allow us to attack the Death Eaters at a distance,_ he told himself as he saw his 'students' shooting hexes at their bull's-eyes. _I remember that Salazar told me that the black holes could be used to send magic and objects through them, but opening and closing the holes several times can become tiring. Hermione has her bow and arrows, but we can't exactly create more than one hundred bows with several arrows each that will be exactly tuned to each person's necessities, not to mention training them to be somewhat acceptable in archery, which would take months._

_Wasn't there a charm that can be used to conjure arrows? _Harry realised. _The one the Appleby Arrows used whenever their team scored? I could Craft something similar, but I doubt Hermione would be up to teaching everyone at the same time. _

_But, she isn't the only one who knows how to use the bow..._

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After Potions, Harry ran to classroom eleven, where Divination classes for the younger years were held. He waited until the current students – third years, as Dennis Creevey was one of them – came out before entering himself.

"Greetings, Harry Potter," Firenze said.

"Hello, Professor," Harry answered with a small bow. Firenze smiled.

"The stars have told me that a great evil approaches Hogwarts, and that it comes for you, Harry Potter. I also know that you have been doing your best to help the students and the people from Hogsmeade. Why is it that you wish to talk with me?"

"Actually, Professor, I wanted to talk with you about something related to that evil. How good are you with a bow?"

Firenze didn't seem to be surprised by this question. "All centaurs are trained since they are foals to shoot the bow. I wasn't exactly one of the best, but I was good at it. So, you want me to train your friends in the art of archery?"

"Well, actually, it would be all of the Defence Association, if you do not mind," Harry answered, slightly nervous. "Save for Hermione, she already had some training with her bow and she is really good, but the others don't know a thing about archery. Would you be willing to help us?"

Firenze looked up, without blinking, towards the stars in the roof of the classroom that Dumbledore had charmed for it to show the stars in the sky but blotted out the sun – a really good charm that all astronomers really liked, but didn't manage to do normally as it required spending great quantities of energy to maintain it during the day. Hogwarts's repository of magic provided it, so Dumbledore didn't need to tire himself with overuse of magic during school time, but it had been him who had cast it before.

"You will need all the help that can be given to you for the battle, Harry Potter," Firenze said, his blue eyes fixed again in Harry's green eyes. "My help will be needed, but it will not be enough. Please, come with me."

Harry was slightly surprised by this petition, but nonetheless followed Firenze out of the classroom, and realized soon that he was leading him towards the Forbidden Forest.

"You do realize that the rest of your herd are likely to kill you once they see you, no?" Harry asked, worried.

"I do, Harry Potter. However, the help the centaurs of this Forest can lend you would be very important. If you manage to convince them to join the battle, you will gain a very powerful ally."

"I know that," Harry replied, as they set foot into the Forest and he started to look around, ready to provide protection to the centaur at his side were the other centaurs to attack them.

For several minutes, both young man and centaur walked, going deeper into the Forest, until they reached a clearing where several flowers of a reddish colour had bloomed.

Firenze held his arm out. "We must wait here, Harry Potter. Some of the Elders will come to us soon."

"The Elders?"

"The leaders of the Centaurs in this Forest," Firenze replied.

After a few minutes waiting, with only birds sounding in the middle of the warm morning, trotting was heard from the other side of the clearing. One by one, five centaurs, three of them with long white hair and the others with short black hair, came in front of Harry and Firenze.

"Firenze," one of them said, in a detached voice. "You were exiled from this forest a year ago. Your betrayal of our herd to the humans out of our forest cast you out. Why it is that you risk your life, coming here, and with a human, nonetheless!"

"Excuse me, noble Centaurs," Harry said, "but I believe that the matter that of whether Firenze here has been 'consorting' with humans or not is not important at this moment. I have come here in order to ask for your help in something that I am not sure if you already know about."

"Listen here, human child, who do you believe yourself to be? Shouldn't you have been taught not to speak to your betters unless spoken to?" one of the younger centaurs said.

"Are you going to listen to me, or are you actually trying to prove that everything that is said about your kind is true?" Harry shot back at the centaur.

"Stupid child..."

"Let him speak, Morian," one of the other Elders spoke. Then, he looked at Harry and saw the scar at his forehead. "You are Harry Potter, if I am not mistaken."

"I am, sir," Harry replied with a bow.

"Let it not be said that we turned away someone without being heard at first," the Elder said, giving a hard look at the centaur called Morian. "Tell me, Harry Potter, why is it that you wish for our help?"

"I am not sure of what the stars have told you that may happen in the next months, but I have spoken with Professor Firenze here, and he has told me that he has seen a great evil approaching Hogwarts."

"We have also seen that great evil you talk about, Harry Potter," the Elder spoke.

"If I may ask you, what is your herd going to do when the evil comes to Hogwarts?" Harry asked.

"Nothing. Centaurs have always stayed neutral in man wars, and we won't be making an exception this time," the Elder stated.

"Oh," Harry replied, slightly angry. "Then, pray tell, why do you think Voldemort will leave you and your people alone? Do you think that, out of the goodness of his heart," Harry stated sarcastically, "he will just let you live your lives in peace?"

"If we stay neutral, I do not believe he will have any reason to attack us," the third Elder stated, full of contempt. Harry snorted.

"As if he actually needed some reason to attack! Nearly all of his followers are a bunch of retarded purebloods that believe that anything not a pureblood wizard, they should kill! Do you really believe that staying aside will work in your favour? No! Once he has defeated any wizard opposition, and maybe not even then, he will turn against the magical beings that have either sided with the Ministry and the Order of the Phoenix, then against those who remained neutral, and finally even against those who have been helping him! Neither Voldemort nor his Death Eaters care for nothing but themselves! Once Hogwarts falls, then you will as well."

"Why should we actually help you, humans? You have done nothing but belittle our great and noble race," Morian replied. Harry rolled his eyes.

"I admit that wizards haven't been exactly good with you," Harry replied, "but you must admit that you have some guilt in how the relationship between humans and centaurs is. If you weren't this isolated, perhaps things would have gone other way," Harry said.

One of the young centaurs made a motion as if to take an arrow from the quiver as he raised the bow, but the Elder that had talked first stopped him.

"What is it that you propose, Harry Potter?"

"Look, the way I see it, there are four possibilities. One, you don't help and Voldemort kills all of us. Then, he'll go after you, after the goblins, after the merpeople, and then after anything that strikes his fancy until nothing rests. Two, you don't help and we defeat Voldemort. You will most probably be regarded as being too prideful to accept an apology and help us wizards when we needed your help and you will still be isolated, and probably at one time you might need a wizard's help to do something you can't and you will be rebuffed. Three, you help and Voldemort still kills everyone. In that case, well, no one will care, but at least you will have been able to do something important. Four, you help and we defeat Voldemort, in which case people will be grateful and probably will overcome the bigotry they tend to hold towards you. Any way, the decision is yours. I truly hope that you make a good decision," Harry finished.

"Good night then, Harry Potter," the Elder said. "We will have an answer for you in three days time."

"Thank you for hearing me," Harry replied, bowing slightly. The centaurs bowed back – the young ones reluctantly – and left the clearing. Harry and Firenze did the same.

"What do you think they will decide, Professor?" Harry asked the centaur that was walking by his side.

"You were blunt, Harry Potter," Firenze replied. "You exposed what you wanted to tell them in a direct manner, and you also provided them with the different outcomes of what their decision may bring, whatever it is. They will respect that you were doing your best to be truthful with them, and also that you faced against one of them without using a wand, but perhaps you were a bit too confrontational. My guess is that they'll be divided over the issue, with a half wishing to stay neutral and the other half wanting to join. There may be the odd one that will decide that joining Voldemort is the best thing, but no one will be that stupid: centaurs have nearly always been committed to the side of light or, at least, neutrality. Whether they will choose to help you or not, I do not know."

"Let's hope that they choose to help, then," Harry replied.

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"The charm is _Sagitta_," Harry told the DA Veterans. "It will conjure an arrow, but it will act like a spell, so I suppose that the proper word would be that you will shoot an arrow. The speed of the arrow will depend a bit on how much magic you put behind it, as well as the time it stays before disappearing. However, with some training, you will be able to shoot the arrows at the speed you want them to go.

"Hermione and Professor Firenze, both quite proficient with archery, will teach you how to shoot, how to point, how to make the arrows go to where you want and how to use the wind on your favour. Archery isn't easy to dominate, but with some practice every day, you'll be able to strike at your intended target with some ease.

"Now, I am going to restrict you from using this spell out of here unless there are extenuating circumstances, just like I did with the Cutting Curse. You may remember that there is a charm similar to this one, which was banned because a Quidditch referee was hurt by it. Well, this charm is nearly the same, but it can actually be lethal if misused. And I hope that, if you use it, it's because you don't have other choice, because if I catch anyone using that spell without due cause, he will be out of the DA, and I will make sure that Professor Dumbledore punishes the one who does it severely, or even expel him. Is that understood?" Harry asked. Everyone nodded, understanding that Harry was being serious.

"Now, I'll leave the rest of this lesson to Hermione and Professor Firenze. As you can see, the Room has already been prepared for your practice. Wards have been put between you so that you don't hurt someone else on accident. Now, please listen to what your teachers have to say."

Hermione rolled her eyes at Harry's comment, but took half of the students at a side, and began teaching them the basics of arrow-shooting, while Firenze took the other half and did the same. After a few seconds, Harry decided to hear to Hermione's lesson, as he was more used to her method of teaching, which he had gone through for years. He may have developed the charm, but he knew that the experts here were the two of them.

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I decided to end the chapter here, mostly because I didn't have an idea about how to continue it. However, I hope that this chapter was good enough for you guys, and that you haven't cast this story off as an abandoned one.

The first part of the chapter – up to the newspaper articles – required 2 rewritings before it actually looked good, and then some more time to decide the actual order (before, it was newspaper-Voldemort-Harry, but then I realised that Voldemort-Harry-newspaper made more sense).

The rest of the chapter was mostly to fill with more training. The meeting with the centaurs did not go exactly the way I wanted it to go, but I suppose that the centaurs' regarding helping humans as a betrayal, a feeling derived from how badly wizards have treated them, is mostly in-character. Remember that they didn't help in DH until after Hagrid ashamed them so deeply that they realised that they had been mistaken. However, do not fret, here they will help, and that is going to be the turning point from changing Human-Centaur relations.

I think that, in a couple of chapters, I'll be able to start to set the table for... well, better if I don't tell you, I don't want to spoil the surprise.


	27. And This Is A Blast

**Disclaimer**: I don't owe Harry Potter. Nor Castle. Nor El Internado. Nor El Barco. Wish I did, though. That way, the main characters would have engaged their brains in certain situations. Harry would have probably become friends with Ginny back in her second year if I had had a hand on

Chapter 27

And This Is A Blast

Time passed slowly for the Hogwarts inhabitants. For some of them, training had become a big part of their lives, because they knew that they were going to need those skills for when Voldemort came. And, with Easter approaching, Harry and his friends were doing their best to ensure that, when Voldemort came, he didn't became a threat to the world, both magical and Muggle, any more. There was still time to celebrate on several happy moments, such as Ron's 17th birthday, which now proclaimed that he was of age in the eyes of the British Magical World. He had gotten several items that he had never thought he would get, such as a much better broom – the Guardian, the first broom that had been created specifically for Keepers – from his parents, a few books for his friends, and a holster for his axe, apart from the usual sweets. However, in his opinion, the best present was the one Hermione gave him, which was a small gold locket where she had put a photograph from last Christmas Day, one that had been done by her parents and showed them sleeping together in the sofa after the large meal Molly Weasley had prepared. Ron had, upon seeing the present, taken her with his large arms and gave her a kiss that lasted nearly three minutes, and that was because Harry had managed to stop them from going down a very dangerous path that would have required, according to Ginny, severe mind bleaching for her and the others that were around.

If there was something Harry had learned to hate, was having to stay out of the battle whenever he knew that the Death Eaters were about to launch an attack anywhere in Britain. He always did what he felt was correct by getting inside Voldemort's mind – and, for some reason, the Dark Lord never realised that Harry was in there as long as he didn't get angry over something – and then he was forced to stay at Hogwarts, with Ginny always watching like a hawk over him so that he didn't try to leave – or, at least, so that he didn't try to leave without her – in order to satisfy his _saving people thing_, as Hermione had once said, something that had stuck with the rest of the Eight Ones, to describe Harry's need to save everyone.

At least, Harry could amuse himself seeing how skittish Voldemort was getting with his Death Eaters and with how paranoid he was going on, believing that any but the most loyal were potential spies of the Ministry and the Order of the Phoenix. Harry could only scoff at that. Why would the Order or the Ministry need a spy within old Tommy's ranks when he himself was the biggest window into watching the plans he had made? For Merlin's sake, Harry had practically screamed 'Hey, I'm here, you stupid snake-faced idiot!' the first time Harry had stepped into Voldemort's mind!

Voldemort was certainly getting more paranoid than Mad-Eye Moody by the day, and Harry could see how his suspicions changed every day, and sometimes every hour: his mind jumped from Lucius Malfoy (his son had rejected becoming a Death Eater) to Pettigrew (he was a coward) to Avery (he was too intelligent) to Rookwood to Macnair (both had worked with the Ministry) to the foreign recruits to a werewolf to a vampire and back to any of the others in the list. Only a few people could be said to be free from being suspected by Voldemort, and they were his most fanatic followers: the Lestranges, Barty Crouch Jr and the vicious werewolf Fenrir Greyback.

And Harry was certainly interested in keeping Voldemort like that, in keeping him wary of those that obeyed his orders, in keeping him paranoid at the fact that few of his plans worked , that they were stopped by the Ministry and the Order of the Phoenix, no matter what he did. Because those things angered Voldemort. And angry people made mistakes, mistakes that may as well become the linchpin of the war.

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Easter was nearby, and all the students were certainly looking forward to a respite from the tense atmosphere at Hogwarts. However, first, there was still one event that had to happen, which was the fourth match of the Hogwarts' Quidditch season: Gryffindor vs Hufflepuff. Both teams, ready to enjoy the day and to entertain their fellow students, went out into the pitch with the intention of defeating the other side.

Unfortunately for the Badgers, Gryffindor got a fast victory as, 10 minutes after the start of the match, Harry managed to catch the snitch, ending the match with a 160-0 for Gryffindor. Hufflepuff had certainly become quite the great team, with the Chasers and Keeper being the ones who had improved the most, but in the end their skill hadn't been enough to score on Ron's goals and just barely to prevent the three Gryffindor Chasers from scoring more than once, but still they had done a great job, and Harry did congratulate them on having become such a good team, and hoping that the following year the Snitch would be harder to catch. He still felt a pang of guiltiness at Cedric Diggory's – who had been Hufflepuff's seeker – death, but it didn't haunt him as much as it did last year.

Unfortunately for Harry, a couple of days before the Easter holiday arrived Voldemort decided that something had to be done in order to restore 'the proper climate of fear', as he liked to put it, and thus decided to plan something out of the blue, without any planning further than a few hours forward in order to prevent a potential spy from getting the plans. And thus, he decided to strike at one point that, if the attack was successful, he would be gaining some more power in his struggle against the Ministry.

~~~HPATUV~~~HPATUV~~~HPATUV~~~HPATUV~~~HPATUV~~~

It was a normal weekday in Diagon Alley. People were going on along the street, buying what they needed or wanted from any of the many shops in the street. The white marble building known as Gringotts Bank could see an steady flux of people entering and coming out, the former needing to extract money from their vaults and the latter wishing to buy everything they had to as fast as possible to avoid any potential Death Eater attack. Some people were adventurous enough to enter Knockturn Alley in search of rare things that weren't sold in Diagon Alley, such as rare books or ingredients. Weasley Wizard Wheezes was having several customers, not as many as they did during the summer, but still there were many in there, most of them children that weren't old enough to go to Hogwarts plus their parents.

Suddenly, without any warning, several dark-robed, white-masked wizards Apparated into the street and started to curse those people around them without any care. The Death Eaters had just arrived to Diagon Alley, per the orders of their master, and they were willing to do anything to make sure that their master's orders were carried out.

However, they weren't very fortunate in that regard. For starters, the number of people on the street proper was low, which reduced the efficiency of the attack. Then, those that were out, always knowing that there was the chance that there would be problems and on the lookout, were already prepared to get into the nearest shop, as all of them had their pre-created Portkeys that would take them to safety. The last mistake the Death Eaters made was to appear just in front of the number 93 of the street, a building whose owners weren't afraid of launching a counterattack against them, and it was a counterattack that the Death Eaters weren't expecting, due to the form it took.

Fred, who had been attending the counter when the Death Eaters Apparated on the street, had activated a special ward their brother Bill had built over the building when they had opened the shop, which allowed them to prevent people from entering the shop unless one of the twins allowed them passage. Then, he pushed a red button near him that made a siren sound in the whole building.

"CALL TO ACTION STATIONS!" he shouted, and four voices answered "ROGER!" at the same time. George was entertaining a couple of the kids just at that moment, Angelina Johnson had been watching over a couple of potions that were being concocted in the basement, Alicia Spinnet had been bringing a few articles from the backstore and Lee Jordan was going over some numbers in his office on the first floor. In less than thirty seconds, the five workers were in the main store, and George took charge of the situation.

"Ladies, gentlemen and children, there are Death Eaters in Diagon Alley. For your security, we suggest you that you follow the lovely Miss Spinnet and myself to the basement, so that you may be able to get the Ministry-issued Portkeys created for this kind of situation, while my brother Fred, Mr Jordan and Miss Johnson take care of the defence of the shop." Just like in their training. The five of them had seen way too many Muggle films, George told himself, as the customers followed Alicia and him.

Meanwhile, Fred had pushed a couple of more buttons, making sure that the door was well secured and then bringing out several of their newest inventions, which they had developed without anyone but their closest friends and collaborators knowing. Not even the Order knew about these, because they wanted to test them, and he guessed that this was the perfect moment to test the War Wangs.

"Guess it is test time, isn't it?" Angelina asked.

"Yes, and frankly, I can't think of any better testing than using them against the Death Eaters. Let's go to the first floor, we will have better accuracy from there," Fred replied, and levitated one of the boxes upstairs, with Angelina and Lee following him, each with other box.

Opening one of the windows, Fred made sure that none of the Death Eaters had seen it. They were starting to fan out, with a part of them going up the street towards Gringotts, a smaller group towards the Leaky Cauldron, and the last one drifting aimlessly near their shop.

"Angie, would you be a dear and have the honour of knocking out the ones that are going towards the Leaky Cauldron?" Fred asked. He knew that those could potentially be the most dangerous, specially if Tom didn't know that the Death Eaters had Apparated.

"Sure," she said with a smile. Making good use of her abilities as a Chaser, picked from so much time playing with the Gryffindor Quidditch team, she pinpointed the position of the aforementioned Death Eater group, took one of the War Wangs – a red one – and threw it with great accuracy, making it land just in the middle of the group.

A small explosion sounded in there, and several reddish beams accompanied the explosion, knocking out a good half of the fifteen or so Death Eaters in that group.

"Excellent!" Lee said. "The Stunner Splosives work perfectly!"

"Yeah, who would have guessed that you would be able to store magic in conjured rubies?" Fred asked. "Good throw, by the way."

"Thanks, but better if we keep up with this," Angelina answered, picking a purple War Wang and threw it towards the Gringotts-bound group. This time, there wasn't an explosion, but a cloud of a yellowish gas. A few seconds later, the Death Eaters stopped walking and started to shoot spells around, attempting to hit someone or something around them, but the only thing they hit was the buildings around them and, sometimes, each other, in their efforts to defend themselves.

"Huh. What was that one, Fred?" Angelina asked.

"Pepper Popper," Fred answered as he brought out his wand and started to attack the Death Eaters right in front of the door, as Lee had been doing for some time. "Makes them hallucinate, as if they had ingested a Muggle drug."

"Neat," Angelina said, continuing with her throwing of the War Wangs as well as using her wand from time to time to defend herself and her friends.

"Hey, Fred!" George shouted. "The customers are already safe, and Alicia and I will be going to the second floor. I guess that the Aurors must be about to arrive, but better if we continue with this."

"Sure! Just do it soon, or we might end using the Wangs on the Aurors!" Fred replied.

George didn't say anything, but continued levitating the box in front of him. Soon, the five co-workers of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes were attacking the Death Eaters from the security of their position in the building. The Death Eaters had noticed that there was being a severe response to their attack and concentrated their fire on the shop, but, unfortunately for them, the Aurors appeared in the scene soon. Recognising that they were outnumbered, one of them brought a small golden ball out of his pocket and said something, immediately activating the Portkeys all the Death Eaters had with them. Only a few of them remained, those whose Portkeys had fallen to the floor due to their constant moving around as they tried to attack the imaginary enemies surrounding them. A Stunner felled them soon, and they were secured and ready to be taken to the Ministry for interrogation before being sent to prison.

"Interesting effect," Scrimgeour – the Head Auror – said, as one of the Aurors tested the reason why the Death Eater was jumping like mad as if he was being attacked by an animal. "Guess that we'll have to talk with Messrs. Weasley. This seems to be their work, although for the life of me I don't know how they have managed to make this."

"I'll do that," Kingsley Shacklebolt said, going towards the twins' shop. From what he had gathered as he saw the results of the testing showed that the captured Death Eaters were as if under a potent hallucinogen, but it wasn't one that could be recognized as magical. He had also seen, from a distance, clear marks of explosion at several points far away from the shop, but still at an arm's throw from the shop.

As he neared the door, he felt a ward feeling him up – not in that sense – and testing his identity. The ward let him pass, so he supposed that he had passed the requirements asked for by it. Knocking on the door, it was immediately opened by one of the red-haired twins.

"Auror Shacklebolt, it's nice to see you," the twin said.

"Greetings, Mr Weasley. Could you and your brother – and perhaps anyone that works in here – what happened out there?"

"Oh, sure, but I think Gred would be better suited to do this, as he was the one who saw everything from the start. If you await here, I'll fetch him," George said, disappearing into the shop. Kingsley was a bit surprised, but he was willing to wait a bit. If these two dastardly wizards had managed to invent what he believed, then it could be a great weapon in the fight against Lord Voldemort's forces.

~~~HPATUV~~~HPATUV~~~HPATUV~~~HPATUV~~~HPATUV~~~

Harry was looking out of the train, thinking. Ginny was sleeping on his shoulder, Ron and Draco were engaging in a lively chess game, Neville and Luna were talking about sweet nothings and both Hermione and Susan were reading books, while watching their boyfriends play each other.

Harry was going over what he had learnt, after he was told of the attack on Diagon Alley, by looking into Voldemort's mind. Apparently, he had decided that it would be better if either he wasn't involved into the planning of attacks or just made them up in the point. This was a double-edged sword for Harry, as far as he was concerned. It meant that he wouldn't be able to actually know about the attacks, but there was an advantage in that lack of planning would make those attacks less thorough and more likely to fail, if the Ministry was able to respond soon.

As he went over his plans for these holidays, he couldn't reflect but thinking about what Ginny and Luna had been preparing with so much care in the last weeks. It was something both girls had kept silent about when there was someone else around them, and that secret, whichever it was about, was kept very well protected by both girls, and Harry wasn't willing to attempt to uncover what the heck where those two cooking up. He'd rather stay with a clean and healthy nose and face, thank you very much.

The travel from Hogwarts to King's Cross was very short, and upon arriving there Arthur Weasley gave them all a set of Portkeys so that they didn't have to go through the bustle of King's Cross and the trip to Grimmauld Place by car, which would have been the normal thing, due to the fears of a potential attack by the Death Eaters on them.

After their landing on the reformed Grimmauld Place – which Harry still couldn't believe how much it had changed from the gloomy place it was the year before – and bringing over things to their respective rooms, the eight teenagers went to the drawing room, which they knew wasn't being used right now. Since there were several sofas and love-seats in there, the four couples were able to get themselves comfortable enough. Now that they were away from school, they were able to think on other things. Namely, what they were going to do during the week.

All of them would take their time to work out some. Theoretically, only the 6th years save Neville were able to use magic out of school. However, in practice, and thanks to the Founders' weapons, all of them were able to do some magic. Not too much, unfortunately, as the scope of magic the weapons could use was rather limited. However, it was still going to be very useful for them, as they were able to practice spells related to what they did.

In the end, the ones that benefited the most from this were Ginny and Luna, but not because of the chance to learn more magic, but because their plans could finally be tested, and see if they could be borne any fruit...

~~~HPATUV~~~HPATUV~~~HPATUV~~~HPATUV~~~HPATUV~~~

Three days into the holidays, Neville's Grandmother told Neville that they were going to visit Saint Mungo's, in order to see his parents. Neville didn't like to visit them, because he always felt depressed that they were hardly able to do anything but look into the void, but he knew that this was important to her, so he went upstairs to get changed into his robes after a shower. The other teenagers dispersed once Neville left for his bedroom in the third floor.

It was then that Ginny approached Harry with a serious expression.

"Harry, we have to go with Neville to Saint Mungo's," she said.

Harry raised an eyebrow. This wasn't exactly something he could have seen coming.

"Why?" he asked.

"Please, Harry, just do it," she asked, imploringly. "Luna and I want to give Neville a good surprise today, but we won't be able to do that if we aren't there."

The light shone in Harry's brain as he realised what Ginny and Luna had been planning lately, and suddenly felt very happy for Neville.

"Oh, OK. Do you need our help for it to work?" he said.

Ginny nodded. "The power of the Eight will be invaluable in this task. I will be the one that starts the ritual, and Neville will have to be there since it's their parents that we are trying to heal, but otherwise you will just have to be there. Would you mind telling Ron and Draco? Luna is already talking with Hermione and Susan."

"OK, Gin," he said, giving her a light kiss, and running upstairs, to Ron's room. As he arrived there, he informed his friends what they were going to do, and they joined the group going to Saint Mungo's.

Taking turns in front of the fireplace, the eight teenagers took the Floo to the hospital, soon arriving there, with Sirius, Hestia, Remus, Tonks and Mrs Longbottom accompanying them. Everyone went directly upstairs, since there was no reason to remain in the lounge and they knew where Neville's parents were.

When they arrived upstairs, and passed through the rigour talking with the nurse, the large group found themselves in the room. Sirius, Hestia, Remus and Tonks stayed outside, guarding the room.

Neville and his Grandmother went to see the Longbottoms, while the other teens stayed back, respecting their need for privacy.

**How do we do this?** Hermione asked the others.

**I don't know,** Ginny replied. **Knowing Neville's Grandmother, it'll take something big in order for her to let us help.**

**We'll need Neville's help, minimum. If we join our abilities, we will be able to heal his parents easily. However, I don't want to give him false hope. That would shatter him**, Luna said.

**We can do this**, Harry said. **We may not be omnipotent, but we are pretty powerful. Ginny, your healing abilities can hardly be compared to anyone else's, and Luna, you must have seen something, or you wouldn't have even suggested that we did this in the first time.**

**Harry, you should know that the future isn't always set. The only reason why sometimes prophecies actually happen is because, when those people the prophecy affects hear it, they act precisely in the way they are expected to. Remember, Voldemort wouldn't have attacked you, setting off the prophecy that affects you both, if he hadn't heard it first,** Luna stated matter-of-factly. **I have, indeed, seen Neville's parents recover, but I have also seen them staying like they are, or even suffering a setback. However, the latter is the most unlikely, and if we do this correctly we will be able to give Neville what he has wished the most for years. His parents.**

Harry sighed. He knew that it was going to be difficult, but he knew that his friend was very much deserving of recovering his parents. Back in his fourth year, he had thought that Neville was at an even worse situation than himself, because of how Frank and Alice Longbottom were. Now, he was finally going to change that, and Harry couldn't avoid being a little jealous of him.

Ginny, almost as if sensing this, took Harry's hand and kissed him on the cheek. **Would you mind doing it, Harry? Neville and his Grandmother will accept this far more easily from you than from any of us.**

Harry rolled his eyes, but nodded. He approached the old woman and waited till she realised he was there.

"What do you want, Mr Potter?" she asked.

"I wondered if I could talk to you in private for a moment," he said.

Mrs Longbottom raised her left eyebrow, but as Harry seemed to be set into doing it, she acquiesced and stepped back, letting Neville speak with his parents, even if they couldn't understand him. It was very hard for her to come here and see her son and her daughter-in-law in such a state. Fifteen years ago, a little after the attack, the Healers had said that perhaps some kind of routine visits by their family could help them recover their memories and, while they would still have problems derived from the overexpose to the Cruciatus Curse, they would have a relatively normal life.

However, this was not to be, as the damage had been greater than what the Healers had thought at first, and nowadays Neville and her just visited them because they had got used to it, and, even though what the Healers had said had turned out to be too optimistic, she still held the small hope that Frank and Alice would wake up.

"Ma'am?" Harry asked, waking her out of her reverie.

"Oh, sorry, Mr Potter. What do you wish to talk about?" she asked.

"There is no easy way to do this, so I'll be direct with you. I think that, between myself and my friends, we can heal Neville's parents."

Mrs Longbottom thought her heart would stop for a second.

"Neville has no idea about this," Harry stressed. "I myself didn't learn of this until a couple of hours ago, but I am sure that we can do it if the eight of us can work on this together. However, we need your permission to do it, because Neville is still a minor and, as such, has no power over this matter."

Mrs Longbottom looked at the young man, at the one who looked so much like one of his son's friends, that had the eyes of her daughter-in-law's best friend, that had gone through too many things, things that no person should have seen. His parents' death, Voldemort as he attempted to steal the Philosopher's Stone, the attacks on the students by the Basilisk, Voldemort again as he possessed his future girlfriend, discovering the truth behind his Godfather's imprisonment, being chosen against his will as the fourth Champion of the Triwizard Cup, witnessing the death of Cedric Diggory and Voldemort's resurrection, attacked by Dementors, vilified by the Ministry and the Daily Prophet, watching his Godfather dying and then coming back from the dead...

And yet, despite all those hardships, despite the deaths, despite sometimes having everything against him, he persevered, without surrendering or even thinking about it, always remaining a powerful light of hope for those that met him – well, not those that worked for Voldemort – and he was also a great wizard, if not the most powerful nowadays, he surely was a close second to Albus Dumbledore. She also knew, from his grandson, that Harry was perhaps one of the most humble people in the world, and thus it was doubtful that he would try to boast about something this important.

She sought Neville with her eyes and saw him with a melancholic face as he took his mother by the hand. Alice had been slightly less affected by the Cruciatus Curse that the Lestranges and Barty Crouch Jr had put on them, and thus she seemed to be marginally better than Frank. Not that it made a great difference: they still were practically vegetables.

Mrs. Longbottom closed her eyes, and remembered how vivacious his son was before being attacked, how much fun Harry and Neville had whenever their parents met, the look of joy of both Alice and Lily as they gave birth to their children, the mischievous trio of Potter, Black and Lupin...

It was then that she decided what to do.

"I am sure that the eight of you can do anything you attempt to. I still remember that joke in Christmas when you hit at everyone in the order at the same time. Please, do it," she said, and hugged Harry tightly, while a few tears dropped from her eyes. Harry hugged her as well, as he patted her back.

"We'll do our best, Mrs. Longbottom. Don't worry."

The old woman, smiling a bit through her tears, ruffled Harry's hair. "Just like your father and your grandfather, Potter. This rat's nest on your top, a sense of justice and way too much sense of humour."

Harry smiled back.

**Ladies? Mind informing Neville of what we are going to do?**

**Sure,** Luna said. She approached Neville and told him what they were going to do. Neville nearly fainted from the impression, but Ron was next to him and managed to catch him before he hit the floor.

**H-Harry, is Luna s-saying what I thought?** Harry heard on the Hub.

**Yes. We can help your parents recover their lives, mate. And you will get them back!**

Neville had been left speechless by this.

**Let's do this now. The sooner we finish, the sooner Neville gets his parents back,** Draco said.

**OK,** Harry said. **Do you want to start this, Ginny?**

**Of course. We have to put their beds together, and separated from the wall so that we may surround them.**

**I'm on it,** Harry said, waving his hand, and moving Frank Longbottom's bed near Alice's, and then moved Alice's bed. Both beds were touching and the two adults instinctively grasped each other's hands.

**Good. Now, each of us will stand around them. I'll be at their feet, Harry on my right, then Susan, Draco, Luna, Neville, Hermione and finally Ron will be at my left.**

As the eight teenagers stepped around the beds, Harry saw Neville's parents' pale faces, as they looked around, mildly interested in what they were doing, and Harry smiled at them.

**OK, Ginny, we are ready.**

**Now, everyone take the hands of the people next to you, forming a circle.**

They did that, and Ginny started to chant. It was Welsh, which she had been taught by Gabrielle Gryffindor in the time they had passed with the Founders. It was a bit hard to understand, since it was so old and didn't have any or had few words in common with any widely known languages, but it was still flourish and the words flew out of Ginny's mouth as birds flying into the sunset.

'_Archwn Hud a adfer hyn 'n ddau boblogi s bucheddau fel a chwblhaon 'u fel baen 'n ddarpar at. __Blediwn Hud a barn hyn 'n ddau eneidiau a reolau 'u 'n arobryn chan yn dychwelyd at 'n hwy bucheddau ble adawan 'u. Mai Hud arfer ni fel chwndid fel a Chyfnertho ni i mewn yn anrhegu 'n chyfaill s rhieni beth deilyngan._'

For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then, a light started to fill up the room. The light seemed to be centred on Neville's parents' hands, and grew out of them, slowly, encompassing first the couple, then the teenagers, and then the room. And, suddenly, the light turned off, and everything was black.

~~~HPATUV~~~HPATUV~~~HPATUV~~~HPATUV~~~HPATUV~~~

Harry couldn't see anything around him. It was pitch black. The feeling of Ginny's hand on his had vanished. He didn't know why, and he really hoped it wasn't a bad thing. Then, as sudden as the light had gone out, it came back, but he wasn't in the hospital anymore. In fact, he didn't know where he was.

The only thing he could see was an endless green prairie, without any trees on sight and a reddish sky, as if there was a sunset in there.

"What's this place?" Draco said. Harry looked around, and he saw that Neville, Ron and Draco had come with him.

"I have no idea," Harry answered. "My guess is that this must be some sort of test we have to do in order to help your parents, or something like that. Where do you think the girls are?"

"Don't have the foggiest," Ron replied with a shrug.

Harry tried to concentrate on his ability to communicate with his friends through the Hub, but soon he noticed that he couldn't talk with any of the girls.

**Damn. Looks like this is serious. I can't talk with Ginny**, he told the others.

**What do you suggest we do, then? Because, as far as I know, it was Ginny and Luna that were planning all of this, and I wasn't told a thing**, Draco said.

"Wait, I think I can see something in that way," Neville interrupted, pointing out in a seemingly random direction.

"What is it?"

"Don't know, but perhaps we should go there. It could be important."

"OK, let's walk," Harry said. "If you can see it, I guess it mustn't be too far."

~~~HPATUV~~~HPATUV~~~HPATUV~~~HPATUV~~~HPATUV~~~

The darkness slowly lifted around the red-haired girl. She looked around her, and saw that her friends had arrived with her to the same place.

"What's this place?" Susan asked, unknowingly echoing her boyfriend's words.

"My guess is that this must be the mind of either Frank or Alice," Ginny said. "The ritual we did forcibly pulled us into the minds of the Longbottoms, and we would have to work out how to restore them to sanity. My guess is that we are in Alice's mind, while the boys have been sent to Frank's."

"Er, Ginny, do any of the boys know what's going on?" Hermione asked, warily.

"Huh, I knew I had forgotten to do something," Luna said.

Ginny looked at her friend with a 'I-can't-believe-you-could-be-that-stupid' stare.

"Girls, please, do not fight. The boys are fairly intelligent, I'm sure that they will realise what's going on in there once they find Frank's mind," Susan said, trying to stop the fight before it could even start.

"Harry has some experience in getting into others' minds, so I think that he shouldn't have much problem guessing where they are," Hermione said logically. "Though, I wonder how Harry was able to learn these things so fast, considering that it took Professor Snape several years to reach his current level of Legillimency and Occlumency."

"Harry's a natural, remember his tree?" Ginny stated, referring to the Genealogical Tree Harry had had made during the last summer.

"Yeah, but still, it's amazing how fast he did it," Hermione replied, a bit jealous.

"Hermione, you know he has to face Voldemort," Luna said. "You shouldn't grudge your friend every piece of advantage he has against him."

"I know, Luna," the bushy haired girl sighed. "It's just so strange that he received so many gifts."

"He is intelligent, but remember that he will always need you as a sister, as a friend and as a researcher. Never forget that, OK?" Ginny asked, hugging her friend.

"OK," Hermione smiled. "Enough of the sappy moments. What should we do now?"

"We have to seek Alice's mind. It should be some kind of building where she could find herself secure. Of course that's if she was trained in Occlumency before the attack on her. Otherwise, we should just look for a cave or something similar, which is the way the mind uses to store the memories when you haven't been trained."

"Aurors were taught Occlumency back in the '70s and '80s, according to my Aunt," Susan said. "I doubt that Neville's parents wouldn't have been trained, especially considering that they were very high in the chain of order of the Auror corps."

"Then it's a building. Though, it will likely be ruined due to the attack, so keep your eyes open for anything that looks out of place."

"Does that include us?" Luna asked innocently, but smirking slightly.

The other girls just covered their faces with their hand. They really liked Luna, but sometimes she was _so_ difficult to understand...

~~~HPATUV~~~HPATUV~~~HPATUV~~~HPATUV~~~HPATUV~~~

"_It mustn't be too far, it mustn't be too far_... I swear to Merlin that, when we get out of here, you are so going to get kicked on your damned..."

"Hey! Not my fault that this place doesn't actually follow the laws of physics!"

"Please, shut up, you are giving me a headache!" Draco shouted.

"Let's stop for a while, OK?" Neville said. "Maybe we have been doing this wrong. Maybe there is something else we haven't taken into account. Harry, where do you think we are right now? Is there something that gives you an idea of what's going on?"

Harry looked around himself, trying to understand what was going on. He tried to figure out any clues over their presence there. The fact that they seemed to be at an endless prairie was quite weird. There was something else out of place, but he couldn't exactly place it, as he started to balance himself over his feet. He could actually feel the softness of the grassy floor as he bounced on the balls of his feet, trying to understand what was out of place. Then, he realised that it had been in front of his eyes all along.

"I need you guys to do something. Just stomp on the floor and tell me if you feel something different."

Ron looked at his best friend strangely, but nonetheless complied with the petition. "It's not hard, as I would have expected. It's more..."

"Bouncy?" Draco replied. "Yeah, that's really weird. I didn't know it was possible for a land to be like this."

"That's because this isn't real. I should have realised about this as soon as we arrived. We aren't anywhere that is real. This is someone's mind."

"A mind?"

"Yeah. I've spent lots of time in my own mind when I started to build up my mind's defences, and the ground there is loads softer than real ground. So, we are in someone's mind. And I'd bet that we are at your father's mind, Neville."

"Why?"

"This kind of mental defence is quite rare. It's like a desert illusion, placed upon your mental building, so that the Legilimencer doesn't detect it right away. By placing that illusion, he or she will believe that it is somewhere else and will go after it, not noticing that the building is somewhere else. I remember it because Fabian told me that this method was one of the few that only men could learn, for some reason, and that the way to teach it is only known to a few Unspeakables at the Ministry, knowledge that is only passed from Master to Apprentice. Of course, there are several methods that only women can use, but Fabian didn't tell me about them, because his focus was on teaching me a kind of Occlumency that I were able to use."

"So, you actually think that we are at Dad's mind?" Neville asked.

"Yes. And, from there, I could say that we are here to restore your father's mind."

~~~HPATUV~~~HPATUV~~~HPATUV~~~HPATUV~~~HPATUV~~~

"How does this work, Ginny? We just use magic?" Hermione asked. Alice's mind's first defence was a jungle that surrounded the building. Fortunately for them, the jungle had been very much thinned, since Alice hadn't been able to work on it, and now they could see Alice's mind building. The whole building was totally in ruins, probably looking like Hogwarts would do to a Muggle, but this was for real.

"No. We should try to find Alice first. If she realises that we are there to help, she should be able to do it with our collaboration. And, let's face it, girls, while we are great and intelligent, we don't have the ability Harry has with Legillimency."

"Yeah, but, remember what Harry told us about the attack on Voldemort's mind?" Hermione said. "Harry's attack on him destroyed his protections partially and it took several weeks for him to recover. I doubt that Neville's mum would have been able to repair this on her own, considering the level of destruction that have been brought into it."

"If we lend her our magic, she will be able to do it on her own. Our minds will be able to anchor her to sanity for enough time that she will be able to start the restoration, and then she will be sane enough that she can do everything else without us having to anchor her. I think that Tom's mind wasn't as totally destroyed as this was, so he was able to do everything without help."

"The fact that he is already mad must have helped him as well," Luna provided, and the girls giggled. "Shall we start, then?"

"Sure. Let's get separated and search for her. I wish I knew which this building is, exactly, as it would help much in order to find where she is, but we will have to search everywhere in order to find them."

"Let's go. The sooner we do this, the sooner Neville gets his mother back," Luna decided, and started to search around for the woman that had given birth to her boyfriend. She really wanted to see him happy.

~~~HPATUV~~~HPATUV~~~HPATUV~~~HPATUV~~~HPATUV~~~

"So, how does one break this kind of defence?" Neville asked.

"It is quite difficult, but once you surpass this, everything is easier. Essentially, what this defence does is to misdirect you, so that when you try to go in the direction of the building, what you 'see' in here is that you are getting further from the building. It's like a compass. It points up to the north, but if someone messes with it then the compass' north is different from the real north. That's what the defence does, it prevents our senses from catching on where the building is."

"What do we do, then? Go the way where the building seems to be getting further away?" Draco asked.

Harry shook his head. "I doubt that would work. However, I think that something else would really work. We would have to separate, but it would allow us to cover more terrain at the same time."

"What if this doesn't work?"

"Then we'll know that that's not the way to do it, come back here and think on something else," Harry replied. "Now, we have to try going as straight as possible to make sure that we know how to come back and all of that. Let's go, we have to deal with this as soon as possible."

With that, the four friends started to walk within Frank Longbottom's mind, intent on searching the place where the man was.

~~~HPATUV~~~HPATUV~~~HPATUV~~~HPATUV~~~HPATUV~~~

**Here!** Susan shouted over the Hub. **From where we started, a few minutes in the direction I took.**

The girls ran to the place where all of them had started their search of Neville's mother and then ran in the direction Susan had gone at the start.

"She looks really ill," Hermione said.

"What did you expect, she's been nearly fifteen years like this," Ginny replied. "Look, Susan, you help me getting her to stand up, and you two take her hands."

Ginny and Susan, being the ones most used to physical exercise, helped Alice stand up, and Hermione and Luna took the woman's hands.

"I'll be doing the anchoring, but I'll tie it to all. Since it's four of us, we should be able to easily share the load."

"Wonder how the boys are doing."

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It was about ten minutes after they started their search when Harry finally found the place where Frank Longbottom rested within his mind. It was really weird: one moment all he had in front of him was a field, and suddenly there was a set of ruins. Obviously, he had passed the threshold that protected Frank's mind.

**I've found the place. Quite hard to find, but I've managed to cross the separation between the mind and the building. I'll start to make some repairs, but it would be nice to have you here.**

**See if you can send some permanent sparks to point the place where you are**, Ron said. **It'd make it faster for us rather than just retracing our steps.**

**Will do**, Harry replied. He pointed to the sky and created an arrow that pointed to his current position.

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A/N: For those that actually care about it, compasses don't actually point towards the North Pole, because the magnetic South Pole (which is where a magnet's (and compass') north pole points to) is not exactly in the same point as the geographic North Pole. If I am not mistaken, the magnetic South Pole is currently in Greenland, at the parallel 78.

Ginny's charm is in Welsh, and I used an Internet translator to get it. If any words are mistaken, I'm sorry for it. The charm is this: **We ask Magic that she restores these two people's lives so that they may fulfil them as they were intended to. We plead Magic that she judges these two souls and rules them worthy of returning to their lives where they left them. May Magic use us as a channel so that She may help us in giving our friend's parents what they deserve.**

i


	28. When All You Have Is A Mind

**Disclaimer**: wish I owned Harry Potter. Or Castle. Or El Internado. Or El Barco. That way, some of the most idiotic behaviors/behaviours would have been prevented

Chapter 28

When All You Have Is A Mind

"Mrs Longbottom?" Ginny asked when she finished anchoring Alice's mind. It wasn't an easy task, given that she had to tether her mind to four other minds, and then making sure that it could recover. For that, they needed to get Neville's mother to collaborate with them, or otherwise it would be impossible to do it.

Alice looked at her, blinking owlishly. Ginny chastised herself for not realising it would not be that easy. Alice Longbottom would still need some time to stand on her feet again, even with her and her friends' support.

"Mrs Longbottom, I am Ginny Weasley. I think you knew my uncles, Fabian and Gideon Prewett, from when you were in the Order of the Phoenix." She thought she saw a spark of recognition in her eyes, but apart from that she kept the same expression. "We are trying to heal your mind, so that you may come back with us. So that you can be back with Neville." The spark she had seen before shined even brighter this time.

"Can I do something, Ginny?" Luna asked. Ginny wondered what she planned to do, but she let her do it. Luna just neared the older woman and gave her a hug. Ginny was surprised, as well as the other two girls.

Slowly, Alice Longbottom returned Luna's embrace, and a small smile graced her face. Ginny could now see from where Neville got his smile, as well as the rest of his face.

Luna whispered something into her ear, something she did not hear, but she did not attempt to pry what it was: maybe her friend had had a good idea.

"I hope to meet the real you soon, Mrs Longbottom," Luna said, and Ginny could swear that Alice has nodded, even if it is a fraction.

"She will be OK," Luna told her. "We should do the healing part now."

"Ginny," Hermione interrupted, "do you know if Harry knows how to do this kind of thing?"

"Yeah, he does. It is a process similar to repairing your own shields, but it is harder because, to help someone repair his or her own shields, someone has to anchor it. I am sure the boys will be able to do this like we are doing as soon as they can find Mr Longbottom in his mind."

"Of course, that is as long as he actually knows where he is."

"Oh, he will know for sure."

They were forced to wait for a little more time until Alice seemed to be a bit more aware of her surroundings. Ginny thought she had seen a spark of recognition in her eyes some time later, but it was not enough. She needed to make sure she could follow on what she did.

While Ginny and Luna stayed with Alice, Hermione and Susan walked around the protections Alice had, and what required to be repaired. They were not as advanced in the art of Occlumency as Harry or even Ginny were, but they knew enough to know what had to be done.

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"Not bad, gentlemen," Harry said when Ron, Neville and Draco finally arrived to Frank Longbottom's mind fortress. "You could have arrived sooner, though."

"Not my fault that this place is really weird, mate," Ron complained.

"Hey, don't complain about my father's mind, will you?"

"Guys, please," Draco pleaded. "The more you argue, the longer it will take us to get back to our girls."

"Exactly. Now, let's go inside this ruins. We should be able to find your father soon if we get working now."

The four teenagers entered the ruins, knowing that the recovery of Frank Longbottom now depended on them and on how fast they found the man, or his representation within there. The ruins made it difficult, because it required a lot of moving around, but Harry took the chance to start mending a few things around, those that would not require much work; he still would need Frank's implicit consent to achieve the bigger things.

A few minutes later, Neville found someone sitting down on the distance, and rushed forward, towards the figure. The other three followed him at a more sedate pace, and a few moments later they were next to their friend, who was kneeling before a man with short hair like Neville's and blue-green eyes that is, undoubtedly, Frank Longbottom, because he looked exactly like in the photograph Harry had of the original Order of the Phoenix. However, right now, the man had an empty look. Probably because he had been trapped within his own mind for about fifteen years. Harry shuddered to think how much pain Frank and Alice Longbottom had to go through to retreat so deeply within their minds.

"Neville," he said, trying to catch his friend's attention, "let your father go. I am going to need your help to make sure your father recovers. If you do not concentrate on that part, you are not going to be very helpful."

Reluctantly, Neville did as Harry asked, and Harry concentrated, trying to anchor Frank Longbottom's mind to Neville's, Ron's, Draco's, and finally his own. It was a long process, which took more than ten minutes, but it was completely necessary. This was not like what happened to Voldemort in his first incursion into his mind, when he had managed to destroy a good part of his mind's castle: Voldemort had been still lucid enough to repair everything in there back to how it was before the attack. Frank had not had that possibility, because the attack on him had been very brutal.

After he managed to anchor Frank's mind, he knelled before the man.

"Mr Longbottom, we need you to help us."

Frank blinked his eyes. A few minutes later, Harry thought the man had started to recover his consciousness.

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"Lily?" Ginny heard. She looked at Luna, who smiled a bit, and then at Alice. It had been her who had called Ginny 'Lily': probably she had confused her with Harry's mother, given that they both had red hair, but Ginny knew she did not look that much like Lily Potter.

"Mrs Longbottom?" Ginny said.

"You are not Lily," Alice sentenced, a bit sad.

"I know. My name is Ginny Weasley, and we are here to try to help you."

"Weasley? The Weasley's have a daughter, but she is just a baby. I know it, I held her in my arms just a few weeks ago. Who are you?"

Ginny winced, but knew this was normal. The poor woman had been so out of sorts that she had not been aware of her surroundings or of the passage of time, and to her it seemed that it was just a few minutes ago that she had been attacked by the Lestrange.

"Mrs Longbottom?" Luna said, softly. "What is the last thing you remember?"

"Why?"

"It might help us explain everything to you," she replied.

Alice seemed surprised, but tried to recall what had happened to her last.

"We were... having dinner at Longbottom Manor... Frank and I had been talking about adopting Harry Potter... he had just lost his parents, and they were our friends... then... the wards were attacked... Frank's mother took Neville and called the Aurors... while Frank and I faced the attackers... we managed to keep them back, but they got lucky... they disarmed Frank, and then me... they asked us where Voldemort was... and then the pain... just pain..."

Without asking more, Luna hugged Alice, in an attempt to comfort the older woman. She was her boyfriend's mother, and she really wanted to give him something more to be happy about. It felt odd, having to console someone that was older than her, but she did not mind about it.

Once Alice calmed down, Ginny continued.

"Mrs Longbottom, the pain is finished. It's been fourteen years and a half since that happened."

"Fourteen... years... where is Frank? Where is Neville?"

"They are not here." Ginny could see the look of horror in Alice's eyes, and she rushed to explain. "We are in your mind. The pain you were submitted to was so much that both you and your husband retreated into your minds to cope with it. You have both been in this state for fourteen years and a half, right now. Neville is now sixteen, and he is helping your husband recover. He suffered as much as you did at the hands of the Lestrange."

"Fifteen... years?"

It broke Ginny's heart to see Alice Longbottom like this. However, she knew it was unavoidable, and that the sooner they got through the problem, the sooner she would recover.

"You are in Saint Mungo's Hospital. It has taken us a bit to do it, but we have managed to find a way to help you heal and wake up."

Ginny saw how the look in the woman's eyes slowly changed from the desperation of discovering that she had missed fifteen years of her life to one of decision as the knowledge that she could finally wake up from the coma that had held her for so much time.

"What do I have to do?" Alice asked, and Ginny smiled.

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"It is like when you repair your mind after fighting off an Occlumency attack. However, given the situation you were in, we had to anchor your mind to ours so that you could be well enough to start these reparations."

"Is it that easy?" Frank asked.

"Well, it is theoretically easy. But considering the damage done, both me and my friends are going to be helping you, so that it takes you less time to recover completely. Our friends are helping Alice, so both of you should be awake soon."

"Thank you very much, Harry."

"You are welcome. Now, let's start with the repairs."

The five of them separated and raised their hands, concentrating on repairing a part of the mental walls. It was a slightly hard task, especially for Neville, Ron and Draco, who did not have much experience with the task, but their time with the Founders had been quite useful, and now they could put it to great use. Neville was especially interested in this, and also quite nervous, given that this was going to give him what he had dreamed about for so much time. It took Harry a few minutes to get Neville to calm down and just concentrate in the task at hand.

Harry found a wall that had been turned completely into dust. It was somewhat near the center of the mind, so that meant the attack must have been either very strong or happened when the outer defenses were down. He shook his hand at the brutality of the attack performed by the Lestranges and Barty Crouch Jr on them, and he started to wave his hands: given the size of this part of the protections, it would require more magic than what he had used everywhere else.

Slowly, the dust started to congeal, first into small rocks, then greater rocks, then big blocks of stone. Those blocks of stone moved to form a line, then more dust congealed on top of that line. Harry was a bit peeved that it had taken so much (probably a minute) to restore just that, and knew that it would take a lot of more time to finish.

"Want some help?" Draco offered.

"Sure," Harry said. Soon, Draco was next to Harry, moving his hand in a similar way. The stone blocks formed at a faster pace than before, and several minutes later they had finally managed to build the whole wall back.

"Damn, it took us a lot of time just to put this."

"Let's get back to work, or else we will be here for years."

"True," Draco replied with a grimace and set on to continue working.

Harry sighed as he poured his magic into building the next wall.

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After what seemed too many hours working restlessly, the five of them had finally managed to restore the building in Alice Longbottom's mind. As that work advanced, they noticed how Alice was far more aware of what was happening, and more active in the reparations, not to mention that her guidance was fundamental so that they knew what went where.

"I cannot thank you girls enough for what you have done for me," Alice said, hugging them all in turn.

"No need to thank us," Ginny replied with a big smile.

"Just make sure to tell Neville that you like his girlfriend," Hermione continued, nodding towards Luna. Uncharacteristically for her, Luna blushed, and the others smirked at the fact that they had finally got one over the girl.

"Well, I do have to say my Neville has a great taste in girls. He must think the world of you."

"Yes," Luna replied, a bit shy, and still blushing.

"So, Ginny, how do we get out of here?" Susan asked, feeling that enough was enough when it came to joking about Luna and Neville.

"We have to un-anchor Alice's mind from ours," Ginny replied.

"Now that I am recovered, I think I can actually help with that. I think you can easily stop anchoring my mind, I can take care of things quite well right now," Alice said.

"Let's do it one by one, to prevent any damage from happening. Hermione, you go first. It is easy, just do what you did when we anchored, only the opposite way."

Hermione nodded, and closed her eyes. Something that looked like a red thread slowly materialized in the air, between Alice and Hermione. Hermione's face changed slightly, showing the concentration on the effort that unhooking the anchors required of her. It took her only half a minute, and just then the thread snapped back into Alice, who closed her eyes too, and concentrated to offset the loss of that anchor.

It was just five minutes later that Ginny broke her connection to Alice, and the girls were finally ready to leave.

"Hope to see you soon, ladies," Alice said as the four girls started to leave the now rebuilt mind fortress.

"I am hoping the same, too," Luna replied. The four waved their hands, and walked outside of the fortress, upon which moment a light flashed before them, and everything became white.

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"I am proud of you, Neville," Frank said, messing Neville's hair up. "And Harry, I am sure that your parents would be awfully proud of you, too."

"I hope the same, sir," Harry replied.

"Drop the sir, Harry. I know you since you were a tiny thing in your mother's arms, you can call me Frank."

Harry shrugged, not knowing how to answer to that.

"What do we have to do now, then? I am eager to finally be able to do something after fifteen years," Frank said.

"Well, we have to let the anchoring go, so that we can leave here," Harry said. "It is easy, just the same as what we did to anchor Frank's mind, but the opposite way. Draco, you go first, then Ron, then Neville, and I will do it the last."

It took the boys ten minutes to un-anchor Frank's mind, but it was worth it all, considering what awaited them when they came out of where they were.

"I hope to see you out there soon, boys. "

"So do we... Dad," Neville replied. The four left the fortress, and suddenly a light flashed before them, turning everything around them completely white.

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As the light receded, Harry slowly recovered his sight, and was able to see what was surrounding him. Bit by bit, he started to see his friends. All of them were still around, standing like they had been when they did the ritual, blinking in order to help their eyes recover from the intense light. A minute later, the light shrunk into Frank and Alice's joined hands and then disappeared.

A groan was heard from Alice. "Did it work?" she asked in a raspy tone. It was clear that the woman had not used her voice in many years.

"Yeah," Frank, in an even raspier voice, replied, "think so."

"Good Merlin!" someone said, right behind Harry, who jumped. He had totally forgotten about Neville's mother. He stepped aside so that the woman could finally kiss and hug her son and daughter-in-law. Neville joined, finally enjoying being in his mother's embrace after being denied it for fifteen years, while the other teenagers left in silence, trying not to disturb the Longbottoms on the way out.

"That was great," Ron said as soon as they left the room.

"Yes, it was," Luna replied, smiling at her boyfriend's happiness.

"Let's find a Healer, so that we can tell them that Neville's parents are awake," Ginny said.

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_MIRACLE IN SAINT MUNGO'S_

_Written by Matthew Saint-Christopher_

_Yesterday evening, Saint Mungo's Hospital of Magical Maladies and Injuries gave a completely unexpected announcement in a press conference: Frank and Alice Longbottom had awakened and recovered._

_The Longbottoms, who had been tortured into insanity by Bellatrix, Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange and Bartemius Crouch Junior two weeks after Harry Potter's defeat of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named in October 31st 1981, had been written off by Saint Mungo's Healers as "incurable" due to the extension of the damage done to their minds._

_However, it looks like either this diagnostic was incorrect or premature, or that the Longbottoms were somehow able to repair their own damaged minds from the inside, because, as Saint Mungo's has reported, they managed to recover conscience and were completely aware of their surroundings, as well as talking._

"_This does not mean that they are completely out of the woods yet," Saint Mungo's spokeswitch, Healer Amethyst White, said. "They will have to follow a strict regime of physical and magical rehabilitation, as well as becoming up to date with the happenings of the Magical World in the last fifteen years, but we are sure that Alice and Frank will be up to returning to their home before their son is back to Hogwarts."_

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_A PIECE OF MY MIND_

_Normally, this is something I would not be writing about, given the nature of this magazine. However, these news affect me personally, so I feel compelled to write about them._

_My daughter Luna was just a few months old when Harry Potter defeated You-Know-Who. My family, like all other magical families – save for those that had supported You-Know-Who, of course – celebrated the end of the war, but our celebration was tempered by the fact that said victory had required that a child lost his parents at the young age of one, and become a celebrity for something that he would probably not be able to remember at all. Some time later, the celebratory mood was further shattered when another child lost his parents to what could be said to be a fate worse than death._

_As I write these lines, fifteen years and four months have passed since that time. My daughter is now studying for her O.W.L. exams. She is a close friend to Harry Potter, who I have been told is regarded by most Hogwarts students as their leader, and by most of Magical Britain as their saviour. She is also Neville Longbottom's girlfriend, and, to my gratefulness, she is happier with him than ever. I have met both young men personally, and I have to say that, if either were my son, I could not be prouder of them._

_Fortunately, one of these young men has been able to recover what was taken from him in the most foul way. Neville Longbottom, the one who got his heart stolen by my daughter – and viceversa – has seen his parents being returned to him._

_Alice and Frank Longbottom, whom many people, myself included, thought would never be able to wake up after being trapped in the deepest recesses of their minds for so much time, have instead beaten all the odds and come back. No one knows how they did it, whether the fact that they recovered now has some meaning, or even if someone was helping them to heal. However, despite my naturally inquisitive mind, I think that this is one case where the better thing all could do would be to give the Longbottoms the intimacy and chance to reconnect with their son. After all, do you not think that they deserve such reward after everything they have gone through?_

_Signed,_

_Xenophilius Lovegood_

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When the Easter holidays ended, Neville suddenly became the most popular student at Hogwarts, to Harry's great relief, as that took most of the spotlight off him, and gave him enough free time to enjoy with Ginny.

On the other side, Luna did not take Neville's new status as "the hottest thing" very well. Not because of him, but because of the fangirls Neville had "acquired", who were now following him everywhere he went whenever there were no classes, and who probably had been doing the same in regards to Harry the previous months. Neville, in turn, had taken to ask Harry for the Marauder's Map, so that he could sneak away with Luna whenever the two of them wanted to have some time alone. Getting into the Founders' room, which would have been quite good, would have required a sense of good timing so that they were not seen: they did not want everyone and their mother to learn about the room and attempt to enter it.

Normal classes were going quite well. The Eight always required little time to learn the spells the Professors taught them. McGonagall and Flitwick were quite happy to see this, but no one felt better than Martin, the DADA Professor, who was delighted at their learning speed, and had started to teach them all more complex and advanced spells and hexes that could be quite useful in the future.

This did not mean that they took time off from working with the DA and training the Hogsmeade inhabitants for the battle that would surely happen around June. If there was something Voldemort could be counted on, it would be on attempting to act in a decisive way that month. Of course, that was just more than enough to push them all to work much harder, in order to learn as much as possible.

Unfortunately, out of school things were not going as well as Harry hoped. Voldemort had continued with his tactic of leaving all the planning to his Death Eaters, only wanting to learn about the attacks a few minutes before the attacks happened, which made it difficult for Harry to catch on those plans. Harry had started to enter Voldemort's mind at random times, to see if he managed to learn something by chance, but normally it did not work well. At least, the Aurors were able to detect when the Death Eaters attacked, and there were always many Aurors ready to defend twenty-four hours a day, although this meant that they could not arrive soon enough to prevent injuries and some deaths.

If he were to be honest with himself, Harry could not wait until Voldemort attacked. The sooner they got rid of Voldemort, the sooner he would be able to get back to a normal life. Or, at least, as normal as it was possible.

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"So, guys, do you think we can do something more for Harry?" Fred said, as him, George, Angelina, Alicia, Lee and Oliver – who was on a break from his career with Puddlemere United, as the Quidditch season had ended for him – met in the twins' flat over Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes a week after Hogwarts re-started.

"What do you mean?" Oliver asked, nursing the Butterbeer bottle in his hand.

"Come on, Ollie, you know what I mean. Harry is going to have to fight old Moldie and his Death Munchers real soon. He has quite the routine set up already, don't you think so?" George replied.

"He is our friend, Oliver," Angelina said. "He has done a lot for us, and he is not even of age. I am sure that we can do something to help him."

"We have something prepared already," Lee stated. "Those boxes of War Wangs are ready so that we can deliver them to Hogwarts. We plan to make enough of the other prank items that they would be able to make a lot of money if we sold them. I guess that you guys are suggesting that we go to Hogwarts for the fight, right?"

"Yeah. After all, this is what Harry trained the DA for, so that we knew how to fight when the time came. Given what he has had to get through, I think that he could certainly use our help with this situation. And if we join the fight, that is something good we can do."

"I tell you, if I get injured, my coach will kill me," Oliver replied.

"Pfft, as if he would do anything to his star Guardian and a hero of Hogwarts," Lee said.

"Yes, Oliver," Alice interjected. "Besides, I have an idea that may make it safer for us, and it falls right into the thing we have being doing together for years."

"Given that Lee and I do not live here, I guess you must be speaking about flying on brooms," Oliver replied with a smirk. Angelina threw him a cushion he blocked with a fast hand move.

"Get your mind out of the gutter, Oliver. You do not see me making stupid jokes about you and whomever you are going out with. Are you going out with someone, by the way?" Angelina asked Oliver.

Oliver shook his head. "My last girlfriend left me six months ago. She could not stand the fact that I was constantly besieged by the fans whenever we went out. Had a couple of flings after that, but nothing serious."

"Oooh. Well, then I think I should try to present you to my cousin Martha, I am sure you will like her."

"You can do that later," Fred said, poking Angelina. "This is about what we can do to help Harry with this problem of his. What was your idea, Alicia?"

"All of us are good flyers, and we are quite good at fighting with magic. Well, Oliver not so much, since he was not at Hogwarts when we did the DA. Anyway, I think that, if we train up a bit, we could easily attack the Death Eaters from the sky."

"That's really risky," Oliver said.

"Not if we time things well. If the Death Eaters are concentrated on the ground, a fast pass could easily allow us to knock out several of them. We could also throw prank things to distract them, and attack the giants if You-Know-Who brings several to Hogwarts. Either way, we can be useful for Harry."

"Could be nice," George said, bringing Alicia closer to him. "I bet that Ron and Ginny miss us loads. And it would be quite good to visit old Hogwarts again."

"There is still the problem of the shop. Who takes care of it?" Fred said.

"I can do it quite well," Lee stated. "I am not as good on a broom as you guys, and besides I doubt you are going to be practising your flying twenty-four-seven."

"You'd do that for us, Lee?"

"Of course. We are partners in all of this, right?"

"Right, mate."

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The Potions class had just ended. Harry was among the last to abandon the room, as he had had some trouble trying to find a quill that had fallen to the floor and he did not want to break it if he tried to _Accio_ it. As he prepared to leave for the Defence Against the Dark Arts class, there was a flash in the room, and Fawkes appeared over the table next to Harry. Harry raised his arm, and the phoenix jumped on it, dropping a message he was carrying on Harry's hand.

"What is the matter, Potter?" Snape asked, being as shocked over the bird's appearance as Harry.

"I do not know, Professor," he replied, opening the note with the one hand that was not busy supporting the red bird.

_Harry,_

_I need to speak with you about a matter of great importance. Please, come as soon as you can, and bring your map of Hogwarts with you._

_Albus Dumbledore_

"It seems to be important, he wants to meet with me right now."

"Then you would do well in not making him await for you to arrive," Snape replied. "Besides, I am having the next class in five minutes."

"Do not worry, I will be out of here real soon," Harry replied, taking his wand out and waving it over the note, so that Professor Dumbledore's missive turned into a note of apology from him to Professor Martin for missing his class, as he had to meet with Dumbledore. "Would you mind taking this to Professor Martin, Fawkes?" he asked. The bird sang softly for a second, and then jumped from Harry's arm, took the note and flashed away.

_Ra!_ Harry called his phoenix. Ra appeared, and flashed him to his room at Gryffindor's tower. It only took him a minute to find the Marauders' Map, and soon he flashed into the Headmaster's office.

"Good morning, Harry," Dumbledore said. With him were Remus, Sirius and Moody.

"Good morning, Professor," he replied, before giving Remus and Sirius a hug.

"Did you bring the map, Harry?" Sirius asked. Harry nodded, and put the piece of parchment over the Headmaster's desk. Remus activated it, and the five men stood around it.

"Gentlemen," Moody said, pointing at the map, "this map shows many, too many, liabilities to Hogwarts' security. We must seal them completely if we want to stop the Death Eaters from entering Hogwarts in a way that does not force them to take the main entrance."

"You mean the passages that go into Hogsmeade?" Sirius asked.

"Yes."

"Just like you know about them, Pettigrew does, too," Harry said. "We should block most passages, and the one that can be easier to check we will just put a trap. My bet is that Voldemort will send Pettigrew in here at some point before he comes in strength against us, to check on what we are doing right now. I would not put it past him to be already at Hogwarts."

"We can check that easily enough," Remus said, and put the tip of his wand on the map, and said "_Invenire Peter Pettigrew_."

The map moved around for a bit, and then some ink appeared in the centre. _Sorry, mate, but we can't find Peter Pettigrew. Ask later._

"There you go, he is not here yet," Sirius said.

"Are you sure that maybe Pettigrew has not found a way to make himself invisible to the map?" Moody asked.

"We tried everything we could get our hands on to find if it was possible to hide from the map, but believe us, it is not possible. Besides, while Pettigrew had ideas for this map, he did not have anything to do with the charms we put to detect the people, that was all James and me," Remus explained. "And before you ask, Voldemort could have found a way to do it, but without knowing the charms on the map, it would be a hit-or-miss chance."

"More reason to actually block the passages," Moody replied. "If Pettigrew is here and he has somehow managed to to hide from this map, closing them and perhaps put traps in one of them may be our only chance to catch that rat. I do not know how much Voldemort trusts Pettigrew, but he will probably know some of the plans they are going through right now. We might even manage to find _when_ they will attack Hogwarts!"

"We know that, Mad-Eye," Sirius said. "Though, blocking passages may not be as good of an idea, at least right now. If Wormtail finds one of the passages is blocked, and then goes for the next and finds it not blocked, he will suspect something is going on. I suggest that we just put traps in all the passageways, and then, when we catch Wormtail, we block the passages."

Moody looked at Sirius, and Harry had the thought that he was wondering why he had not had that idea.

"Excellent idea, Black! We better do this now. The sooner we do this, the greater the chance we will have of catching Pettigrew."

"Should we separate or go all together? The former helps to do it faster, the latter means we can put up more traps and protections in every passageway," Harry suggested.

"I prefer going together," Sirius replied. "Wormtail may have not been as good at studying as James, Remus or me, but he still knew enough to find things. If we can have either Fawkes or Ra, or Harry himself, transport us towards all those points, we would be able to layer several spells that would help to trap Wormtail, especially if Harry manages to Craft a charm that can make all of them undetectable."

"I think that Fawkes will be more than up to the task. Please?" Dumbledore asked. Fawkes jumped on his extended arm, and offered his feathers so that the others could grab them. As soon as Moody had grabbed the feather, Fawkes 'flashed' them to a point nearby the entrance to one of the secret passageways.

Once there, the four adults started to place several spells which would protect the entrance, while Harry himself prepared a spell that would encompass the others and make them all undetectable, as well as providing an extra layer of protection over the rest of the spells. They spent several more hours travelling to the different entrances to the passageways, placing many spells on them. All of them would be protected against entrance by anyone through them, although Harry put another charm in the passageway that went from Honeydukes to the humpbacked witch statue that would allow him and whomever he chose to circumvent the protections. His idea was that, when the twins came, if there were any Death Eaters watching over the entrance, they would be able to sneak without being seen.

It would soon prove to be an excellent idea.

~~~HPATUV~~~HPATUV~~~HPATUV~~~HPATUV~~~HPATUV~~~

_Dear Mr Potter,_

_I would like to request for some of your time in order to meet you about certain details regarding your account at Gringotts. If possible, we wish to meet the next April 26th at 12 PM. If you are unavailable in that day, please let us know._

_Yours,_

_Griphook_

_Manager of the Potter Family Vaults_

Harry showed the letter to Sirius.

"What do you think?"

"I think you should go. This seems quite important. And I have a feeling it is not completely about your accounts. If it were, they would not be asking to talk with you with such urgency."

"True. Though, I would like to have you there. You are my guardian, so I guess you should be there."

"I do not know, Prongslet. Goblins prefer for meetings with their clients to remain private. I might as well come with you, I can check on Diagon Alley and the twins while you talk with Griphook."

"That's great."

~~~HPATUV~~~HPATUV~~~HPATUV~~~HPATUV~~~HPATUV~~~

On the 26th, Harry (after saying goodbye to Ginny and leaving his friends in charge of the DA class), Sirius and Ra travelled from Hogwarts to the main door of Gringotts. Having taken care of disguising themselves to prevent being recognised, Sirius left Harry at the gate, going straight for WWW, while Harry and Ra entered Gringotts, going straight towards the nearest teller.

"Greetings, Master Teller Urkunt," Harry said, reading the tag in front of the goblin before talking. The goblin looked at Harry with suspicion.

"What is it that you want, wizard?"

Harry took out Griphook's letter and showed it to Urkunt. Upon reading it, he folded it again and gave it back to Harry before turning and saying something in Gobbledegook, the goblin's language. Another goblin appeared, and Urkunt turned again to Harry.

"Mortaz will bring you to Griphook, Master Wizard."

"Thank you for your time, Master Urkunt. May gold flow into your coffers."

"May your enemies bleed against your sword, Mister Potter," Urkunt said in a whisper.

Harry bowed to the goblin, and then followed Mortaz to his destination, which, fortunately, was quite nearby. Mortaz stopped in front of a door and knocked thrice, being answered with something Harry did not understand, but which he supposed was the order to enter.

The door opened, and Harry saw Griphook at the other side, right behind a table.

"Mister Potter, I am glad to see you again," Griphook said. "Mortaz, you may leave us alone."

"Thank you, Master Mortaz," Harry told the leaving goblin, who bowed lightly to him before closing the door.

"Take a seat, Mister Potter."

"Thank you. What is it that you wanted to speak about? Because, the way your letter spoke, it certainly did not sound like you just wanted to talk about my accounts."

Griphook smiled. Harry could not help but compare that smile in his mind to that of a shark.

"You are correct, Mister Potter. While the need to talk about the Potter Family accounts is true, it is not as urgent as I made it look like in my letter. Instead, this is about a deal the Goblin nation desires to make with you."

Harry was a bit surprised, but he tried not to let that through. "Why me? Would not it make more sense that this deal was made with, say, Minister Bones, or Albus Dumbledore? I might be the Head of the House of Potter, and a member of the Wizengamot, but I am still a teenager."

"Indeed. You are the Head of the House of Potter, and a member of the Wizengamot, but you fail to point out that you are too the Boy-Who-Lived." Harry tries not to scowl. That is not exactly the way he wants people to refer to him. "You carry great influence due to your previous victory over the Dark Lord, and even more due to your other encounters with him, as well as the rumours about your being destined to face him. We know that he is likely to attack Hogwarts before the summer starts, and we know we can help you."

"Any help we have is welcome," Harry replied. "We have yet to learn the exact date when Voldemort will make his move, but my guess it will be June."

"Indeed. We do know that, despite what others may think, you are more the leader of the opposition than Dumbledore or Minister Bones. They might be in charge of parts of it, but, in essence, you are the one who is leading the efforts to get rid of Voldemort."

Harry wondered how the hell the goblins were getting that sort of information. He still was sure that they had it wrong, though: while it was true he was in charge of the DA, and it could be said that most of the Hogwarts pupils listened to him, Dumbledore was the one most everyone went for. He settled for a shrug.

"There are many people leading the fight, and I am just one of them," he replied.

"Either way, this offer is to you alone. While we do respect both the Minister and the Chief Mugwump, they are not young enough to help see through any changes, and neither would have the clout to do so. However, you are young, and when you defeat the Dark Lord, you would be able to do anything you put your mind on. And we know you are a man of honour. Thus, we are willing to offer you the support of our army, on your call."

Harry was surprised: he knew that the goblin warriors were fierce ones, able to use magic of their own without having to use wands. The whole goblin army probably numbered in hundreds of them, and were they to join the battle, it would be a massacre, and not exactly on the Death Eaters' favour.

"That is a very generous offer, Griphook. Though, I can guess what you would like."

"And what is that, Mister Potter?"

"Well, I can clearly say that I doubt it is money. You are practically in charge of wizard's economy, so it makes little sense for you to want more money, and if people heard about it you would be cast as mercenaries who would have fought on Voldemort's side if he had offered enough."

"Unfortunately, there are some of ours that have fallen for that, Mister Potter. They did not realise that Voldemort's hatred of our people is too high, and only saw the money he was offering, taken from the accounts of his followers."

Harry shook his head. "Indeed. Well, about your reasons to join this war... I would say it is about respect. Most wizards and witches respect you as bankers. However, many do not regard you as anything else, and some even despise you or treat you like animals. You may be protected by some laws and by the threat of your army potentially attacking the people, but in essence many still disregard you and would probably prefer not having to deal with you at all, and in some cases would even be willing to kill you. I would say that you want to stop being treated like that. That you want to be able to be a part of society. To be respected as fellow magical beings, whether you live among your own or you come out and live among humans. Am I correct?"

"Yes, Mister Potter. It is our hope that this might be our way back into wizard society. As you said, having to deal with wizards that dislike us, as well as a government that places many restrictions against our people, is not something we like, and thus we tend to keep to ourselves. I know it does not help much to mend our image, but it is the only sure way to secure our lives."

"I'll be glad to help the Goblin people regain their place in our society, Griphook" Harry replied, offering a hand. Griphook looked at it for a few seconds and then shook it.

"In the name of the Goblin nation, I thank you, Harry Potter."

~~~HPATUV~~~HPATUV~~~HPATUV~~~HPATUV~~~HPATUV~~~

I am very, very sorry for taking so much time in writing this! You won't believe how difficult it was for me to think about how things should evolve! I hope that this chapter will be enough to satisfy your want of HPATUV.

As you can imagine, we are slowly approaching the final battle between Voldemort's forces and those of the Good people. Hopefully, I will be able to deal in the next chapter with all the problems in May and most of June, and then the countdown will start.

Hope to see many, many reviews and opinions from all of you!


	29. The End

In the first place, I have to say one thing.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry for keeping you waiting for such a long time before putting this up, and probably quashing your hopes that this would be another chapter of my story, **Harry Potter and the Unexpected Visitor**.

I know, I know. I made a promise. I said that I would do my best to bring this story to the end.

However, and very much unfortunately for everyone, this note has only been written with the purpose of telling you that neither **Prodigy: Born Again** nor **Harry Potter and the Unexpected Visitor** will be continued.

The reasons are multiple. The most important is that I find myself suffering an almost constant writer's block in regards to Harry Potter. As some readers will remember, I made many times this comparison: I know where A and B are, but I know not the best route between them.

Then, real life has been striking at me. I'm immersed in my job as a researcher for the local University, and then there is also my Masters, which has taken a lot of time from me, not to mention past jobs that really didn't help at all in the whole "write Harry Potter fanfiction" time.

Also, I grow weary of both stories. HPATUV was started at a time when I was still relatively new to the Fanfiction scene, and thus there were many clichés that, when I wrote them, seemed great, but now look horrible. Prodigy: Born Again was an attempt to wipe away the same problems in the original Prodigy (the one I wrote, of course, not jmcqk6's story), which I guess was a good attempt at fixing said problems, but it has become difficult to do things with the stories.

Finally, I have other writing projects in the pack. Those who are fans of the TV series _Once Upon A Time_ could probably find the time to read my fanfic **Awakening**, which other readers say is quite the good read. Then, if you like alternative history (like AUs, but with real life) and are interested in Spanish history, I recommend you to check **The Legacy of the Glorious (Milarqui's Cut)**. If you ever read _1984_ and would have loved to see how Oceania gets the crap kicked out of it, you can always read **America's stepbrother, America's enemy (v 2.0)**, in which the USA gets transported from December 22 2012 to December 22 1984 in the _1984_ book (this is a phenomenon known in the alternative history sphere as ISOT, after the book _Island in the Sea Of Time_). And, finally, my most ambitious project, which is my own original novel. So far, it is only in development phase, and only has the bare structure and main characters developed, but I can tell you it deals with an alternate Earth in which magic entered the world in the Middle Ages and the Church used it to become an hyperpower.

So, yes. There is going to be no more **Harry Potter and the Unexpected Visitor**.

However, I'm not like many of those that leave their story and never say what would have happened if they had kept writing. No, I'm going to tell you what I would have done if I continued the story.

- Fred & George develop a potion that can knock out a giant, in prevision of the eventual fight.

- Voldemort realizes that Harry has been sneaking into his mind. He still learns that he is going to attack some point soon.

- Harry makes a deal with the goblins to build up several protections for Hogwarts.

- Ron gives Hermione a "day off" from the stress of planning for the attack, studying and everything else.

- Ginny organizes the old Gryffindor Quidditch team as a group to attack the giants.

- The passageways that lead out of Hogwarts are covered with protections to make sure no external spies can sneak in.

- Wormtail gets caught. Harry uses the debt he owes him to make him speak about Voldemort's plans. Right then, the silver hand kills Wormtail.

- Harry manages to control the Space part of his fifth element: making black holes, he can communicate two points. He plans to use them to put a portal between the common rooms and the battlefield, and that way the fourth years and below can collaborate in the battle by distracting the Death Eaters and dark creatures.

- Cho Chang speaks with Harry and apologizes for her bitchy behaviour. She asks whether she can return to Dumbledore's Army, and Harry welcomes her back.

- The Slytherins that are known to be spies for Voldemort are knocked out and pumped out of information to find out how to hoodwink the Death Eaters into believing nothing is wrong.

- Hogwarts becomes fortified, and most forces are concentrated in the school.

- When the battle begins, the first thing out of a black hole is the Cruciatus curse that was shot at Ginny in September.

- Dumbledore's Army shoots arrows, directed by Firenze and Hermione.

- When the Death Eaters approach, several duels start:

* Harry vs Voldemort

* Ginny vs Tom Riddle

* Ron vs Dolohov

* Hermione vs Umbridge

* Neville vs Bellatrix Lestrange

* Luna vs Macnair

* Draco vs Lucius

* Susan vs Rookwood

* Remus vs Greyback

* Sirius vs Barty Crouch Jr

* Neville's parents vs Lestrange brothers

- Augusta Longbottom, Katie Bell, Rolanda Hooch and Marietta Edgecombe, plus several others, die from the Light side. All Death Eaters that have not done so yet die at the same time as Voldemort.

- After the battle, many things change:

The Ministry changes some laws, acknowledging the help many creatures gave in the battle. Centaurs and goblins are given more freedom, but are still under the International Statute of Secrecy. Hermione helps to create laws that protect magical creature, especially house-elves. Ginny and Snape manage to find a way to make werewolves less brutal. Those that chose to follow Remus benefit from this treatment, and slowly begin to be accepted.

Harry stays in a coma during a week due to his injuries and the backlash from killing Voldemort. He has a new gash in his chest, and the scar on his forehead is dulled to a minimum. During his coma, he doesn't remember anything about his life, but he hears his friends talk to him and telling him about what is happening now that Voldemort is dead. He awakens after Ginny kisses him.

Harry receives the Order of Merlin, First Class, for his hard work in fighting the Dark Lord's forces. His friends get Second Class Orders, and the rest of students receive Third Class Orders.

Even after all the problems with Voldemort, the exams go on (much to Ron's chagrin). The Eight do all of their exams very well, perhaps getting the highest marks ever for sixth years. Ginny gets nearly all Os, but since she doesn't have as many subjects as Hermione did, she won't steal that record from her.

I had also made plans for a possible sequel, called **Harry Potter and the Cup of Merlin**, which would have featured something similar to the Triwizard's Tournament, but featuring schools from the whole world, while, in the background, there would have been a conspiracy to destroy the International Confederation of Wizards and begin chaos in the entire magical world; and also, a one-shot about Hermione being interviewed about a biography she has written about Harry. However, well, since HPATUV is not going to be finished...

I sincerely hope that you enjoyed this story, and that you will have good memories of it while it lasted.


End file.
